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Topic: San Joaquin River

Overview July 1, 2014

San Joaquin River

San Joaquin RiverThe San Joaquin River, which helps drain California’s Central Valley, has been negatively impacted by construction of dams, inadequate streamflows and poor water quality. Efforts are now underway to restore the river and continue providing agricultural lands with vital irrigation, among other water demands.

After an 18-year lawsuit to restore water flows to a 60-mile dry stretch of river and to boost the dwindling salmon populations, the San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement is underway. Water releases are now used to restore the San Joaquin River and to provide habitat for naturally-reproducing populations of self-sustaining Chinook salmon and other fish in the San Joaquin River. Long-term efforts also include measures to reduce or avoid adverse water supply impacts from the restoration flows.

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Aquafornia news August 8, 2022 Associated Press

In dry California, salty water creeps into key waterways

Charlie Hamilton hasn’t irrigated his vineyards with water from the Sacramento River since early May, even though it flows just yards from his crop. Nearby to the south, the industrial Bay Area city of Antioch has supplied its people with water from the San Joaquin River for just 32 days this year, compared to roughly 128 days by this time in a wet year. They may be close by, but these two rivers, central arms of California’s water system, have become too salty to use in some places as the state’s punishing drought drags on. 

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Aquafornia news August 8, 2022 San Francisco Chronicle

Why ‘water walks’ are becoming a trend for California hikers

The last leg of Nina Gordon-Kirsch’s monthlong hiking journey was a 10-mile ascent up the western flank of the Sierra Nevada to a pair of gleaming alpine lakes near Ebbetts Pass, about equidistant between Lake Tahoe and Yosemite National Park. … The moment capped a 33-day sojourn along the length of the Mokelumne … She’s not alone: California’s complicated relationship with water, strained by historic drought, is driving all kinds of people to embark on “water walks.” The practice involves tracing a river or waterway “from sea to source,” or in reverse direction, under one’s own power, in an effort to gain perspective on our complex water supply.

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Aquafornia news August 4, 2022 California Department of Water Resources

Blog: Going with the flow: How aquifer recharge reduces flood risk

On a small scale, aquifers — subsurface natural basins — have been recharged with flood waters from extreme storms for decades. Now, a new Department of Water Resources (DWR) assessment shows how Flood Managed Aquifer Recharge, or Flood-MAR, can help reduce flood risk and boost groundwater supplies across large areas of land…. In partnership with the Merced Irrigation District, Sustainable Conservation, and others, DWR experts analyzed how this would work in the Merced River —a 145-mile-long tributary of the San Joaquin River. The Merced River, which flows from the Sierra Nevada to the San Joaquin Valley, could be much more vulnerable to heavy flooding as storms intensify.

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Aquafornia news July 28, 2022 The Sacramento Bee

Thursday Top of the Scroll: California revives Delta tunnel project for water deliveries

Here we go again. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration revived the Delta tunnel project Wednesday, unveiling a downsized version of the controversial, multibillion-dollar plan to re-engineer the fragile estuary on Sacramento’s doorstep that serves as the hub of California’s over-stressed water-delivery network. After three years with little to no public activity, the state released an environmental blueprint for what’s now called the Delta Conveyance — a 45-mile tunnel that would divert water from the Sacramento River and route it under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta so that it can be shipped to farms and cities hundreds of miles away.

Related articles: 

  • San Francisco Chronicle: As drought intensifies, Newsom plans California’s biggest water project in half a century
  • CalMatters: Delta tunnel - Salmon at risk from massive water project, state report says
  • SJV Water: Costs vs. benefits still unknown for the latest delta tunnel alignment, released Wednesday
  • AP News: California outlines plan for scaled back giant water tunnel
  • California Department of Water Resources: DWR Releases Draft Environmental Impact Report for Delta Conveyance Project
  • Restore the Delta: Delta Tunnel (VER 2022.1) Draft EIR released
  • Metropolitan Water District of Southern California: Metropolitan Issues Statement on Release of State’s Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Delta Conveyance Project
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Aquafornia news July 26, 2022 Daily Kos

Blog: CA DWR to release draft environmental impact report for Delta tunnel this week

The California Department of Water Resources has announced that it will be releasing their Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) early this week for the Delta Conveyance Project, AKA the embattled Delta Tunnel. Documents for federal review of the project will be released later this fall. … The changes in the plans include changes to the intakes, the tunnel itself, the power lines, the route and the operations, according to DWR. Here are some of the highlights of the proposed changes: 

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Aquafornia news July 25, 2022 California WaterBlog

Blog: Follow the water!

People often have strange ideas about how water works.  Even simple water systems can be confusing.  When water systems become large complex socio-physical-ecological systems serving many users and uses, opportunities for confusion become extreme, surpassing comprehension by our ancient Homo sapien brains. When confused by conflicting rhetoric, using numbers to “follow the water” can be helpful.  The California Water Plan has developed some such numbers.  This essay presents their net water use numbers for 2018, by California’s agricultural, urban, and environmental uses by hydrologic region. 

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Aquafornia news July 25, 2022 Environmental Defense Fund

Blog: Taking a big leap to solve California water problems: How uncommon partners are finding common ground on the water

There we were, 19 of us on the stony shore of the Tuolumne River, feeling a bit stranded like the crew of Gilligan’s Island. Our “Finding Common Water” rafting excursion was planned around “no water Wednesday,” when river releases are held back for water conservation and infrastructure maintenance. The trip’s goal: Get off our desk chairs and onto rafts, out of the ordinary and into an extraordinary setting — a hot, highly regulated, wild and scenic river —  to push us out of our comfort zone and get to work on addressing real water problems.

Related article: 

  • Manteca Bulletin: San Joaquin River: Born in the pristine waters of Thousand Island Lake, it feeds the stomachs and souls of countless people
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Aquafornia news July 22, 2022 SJV Sun

California policies choking off water from Valley hasn’t been savior for fish, report finds

A new policy brief from the Public Policy Institute of California is recommending cost-effective water storage investments as the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is seeing less inflow. It also offers a damning picture of the thirty-year shift in how the Golden State divvied up water, largely pitting fish species against millions of its residents. The institute – a nonpartisan think tank – initially published the brief in early spring, focuses on the Delta that supplies water to about 30 million residents and over six million acres of farmland. 

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Aquafornia news July 22, 2022 SJV Water

Kern River advocates accuse utility of “lawless” water diversions on behalf of a long closed fish hatchery

As water in the North Fork of the Kern River dwindles, controversy over its diminished flows is ramping up. At least some river watchers are accusing Southern California Edison of misusing a portion of the flows by continuing to divert water, ostensibly, for a state-owned fish hatchery that has been closed since 2020. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) even sent a letter to Edison in January 2022 directing the utility to stop taking water out of the river for the hatchery, saying the facility and its pipeline are inoperable. 

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Aquafornia news July 21, 2022 SJV Water

Going, going….water at some of Bakersfield’s most popular parks is almost gone

The lake at the Park at River Walk is fast disappearing, as are the Truxtun Lakes and some other city-owned water features. Blame the drought. The City of Bakersfield Water Resources Department has cut off flows to city-owned recreation and water recharge facilities to hold on to what little surface water it’s receiving from the dwindling Kern River for drinking water, according to Daniel Maldonado, a water planner with the department. … Local resident Calletano Guiterrez understood the city has to contend with the drought but hoped at least some water could be set aside for what he said he and his family have come to love about Bakersfield.

Related article: 

  • Coast News Group: Commentary - State water restrictions should be a wake-up call
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Aquafornia news July 20, 2022 Maven's Notebook

Five questions: Jon Rosenfield, Senior Scientist at the Baykeeper and longtime Delta scientist

After completing degrees from Cornell University, University of Michigan, and the University of New Mexico, Dr. Jon Rosenfield returned to the Bay Area in 2002, where he worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Dr. Peter Moyle.  He researches and is a tireless advocate for the Central Valley’s native salmon, steelhead, and smelt species. Dr. Rosenfield went on to The Bay Institute where he worked for over ten years to protect fisheries, becoming one of the region’s leading experts on the importance of freshwater flows from the Delta for the sustainability of the Bay’s ecosystem and fish populations.  

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Aquafornia news July 19, 2022 California Trout

Blog: Floating the Wild and Scenic Tuolumne River

At over 13,000 feet high, the Tuolumne River begins in Yosemite National Park at Mount Lyell and Mount Dana, traveling 149 miles downstream before reaching its confluence with the San Joaquin River, just 50 feet above sea-level. The Tuolumne is designated as a Wild and Scenic River and is protected as such under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Throughout the US, this Act protects over 14,000 miles of rivers selected for their remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, or other similar values.  The Wild and Scenic Tuolumne River feels just that – wild and scenic – and yet I was surprised to learn that it is constrained on both sides by two large scale reservoir systems.

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Aquafornia news July 12, 2022 CalMatters

Opinion: New state park could help California answer climate change

Los Angeles County has 25 state parks, recreation areas, historical sites and beaches. There are 24 more in Orange and San Diego counties. But in the eight counties of the San Joaquin Valley, which stretches from the Tehachapis to the northern edge of San Joaquin County, there are only 15 state sites, and only five of those are state parks.  That is about to change. In the budget just signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, enough money has been dedicated to start creating California’s first new state park since Fort Ord Dunes in Monterey County joined the system more than a decade ago.
-Written by Julie Rentner, president of River Partners, a nonprofit conservation organization; and Assemblymember Adam Gray, a Democrat representing Merced County and part of Stanislaus County, including Dos Rios Ranch.

Related article: 

  • Fisheries Blog: Cache Slough Tidal Wetland Restoration – Update
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Aquafornia news July 11, 2022 KCRA - Sacramento

Dangerous swimming conditions across NorCal as rivers speed up with snow melt

July is one of the most dangerous months of the year for water rescues, according to Sacramento-area fire departments. Over the last several days, multiple drownings across the region have fire crews urging the community to wear life jackets, especially as temperatures hit triple digits across Northern California. The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District responded to 14 water rescues along the American River on Saturday, 13 of the people who were rescued survived and one person died.

Related articles: 

  • Fox 40 – Sacramento: Safety experts on high alert after recent drownings across region
  • KGET – Bakersfield: Coroner confirms identities of bodies found in Kern River as 2 missing Southern California men
  • SF Gate: 18-year-old is third person to drown at Lake Berryessa in 2 weeks
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Aquafornia news July 8, 2022 Los Angeles Times

Friday Top of the Scroll: California deepens water cuts amid drought, hitting farms

California regulators have begun curtailing the water rights of many farms and irrigation districts along the Sacramento River, forcing growers to stop diverting water from the river and its tributaries. The order, which took effect Thursday, puts a hold on about 5,800 water rights across the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers’ watersheds, reflecting the severity of California’s extreme drought. Together with a similar order in June, the State Water Resources Control Board has now curtailed 9,842 water rights this year in the Sacramento and San Joaquin watersheds, more than half of the nearly 16,700 existing rights.

Related articles: 

  • KALW – San Francisco: California orders ban on pumping river water in Bay Area and San Joaquin Valley
  • Restore the Delta: CA Tribes, EJ Groups Respond to State Water Board on Delta Plan – Petition largely ignored; Coalition considers next move
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Aquafornia news July 1, 2022 Berkeleyside

Berkeley native begins 240-mile trek to East Bay’s water source

Berkeley native Nina Gordon-Kirsch departed Tuesday on a 240-mile walk from her home in Oakland’s Longfellow neighborhood to the headwaters of the Mokelumne River, the primary source of the East Bay’s drinking water. Gordon-Kirsch, a 12th grade teacher, will be bringing a two-person film crew and hopes her journey will inspire students to think about issues of water conservation and reuse. The trek is her attempt to show “all the steps it takes” for water to arrive at our faucets.

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Aquafornia news June 30, 2022 SJV Water

Water deal to keep taps flowing in Bakersfield even as Lake Isabella levels continue to drop

Bakersfield City water managers learned from California’s last “epic” drought – don’t wait to make a deal. In 2015,  city water managers scrambled to keep taps flowing for more than 20,000 Bakersfield residents as the Kern River ran so low the city had zero water entitlement coming down the river. The river is the only source for Bakersfield’s northeast water treatment plant but at only 11% of normal, there just wasn’t enough.

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Aquafornia news June 29, 2022 JDSupra

Blog: Court upholds EIR for Kern River diversion and storage project

A California Court of Appeal held that the EIR for a public water authority’s river diversion and water storage project adequately described the unadjudicated waters to be diverted and adequately analyzed impacts to water rights and groundwater supply.  Buena Vista Water Storage District v. Kern Water Bank Authority 76 Cal. App. 5th 576 (2022). Until 2010, the Kern River had been designated by the State Water Resources Control Board as a fully appropriated stream, and only those who held an appropriative water right could divert Kern River water.  

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Aquafornia news June 28, 2022 ABC 10 -Sacramento

Tuesday Top of the Scroll: California water supply forecast to be audited

There’ll be an audit of California’s water supply forecast after the state overestimated and prematurely released 700,000 acre-feet of water last year, officials announced Monday. A news release from Assemblymember Adam Gray (D-Merced) announced that Gray’s request for audit was approved. It aims to examine the impacts of the flawed forecasts and the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and State Water Board. … California’s water operations overestimated the forecast by 68% for the Sacramento River  region, 45% for the San Joaquin River region and 46% for the Tulare Lake region, according to a state report. Those overestimations left the operators with less stored water than was necessary, according to Gray’s news release.

Related article: 

  • Fox 40 -Sacramento: State Senator proposes California buy water rights from farmers
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Tour November 2, 2022 - 7:30am - November 3, 2022 - 6:30pm Nick Gray

San Joaquin River Restoration Tour 2022
Field Trip - November 2-3

Travel along the San Joaquin River to learn firsthand about one of the nation’s largest and most expensive river restoration projects.

The San Joaquin River was the focus of one of the most contentious legal battles in California water history, ending in a 2006 settlement between the federal government, Friant Water Users Authority and a coalition of environmental groups.

Click here to register!

Hampton Inn & Suites Fresno
327 E Fir Ave
Fresno, CA 93720
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