The San Joaquin Valley stretches from across mid-California
between coastal ranges in west and the Sierras on the east. The
region includes large cities such as Fresno and Bakersfield,
national parks such as Yosemite and Kings and fertile farmland
and multi-billion dollar agriculture industry.
The federal Central Valley Project and State Water Project (about
30 percent of SWP water is used for irrigation) helped
deliver water to the valley. Today, San Joaquin Valley crops
include grapes, tomatoes, hay, sugar beets, nuts, cotton and a
multitude of other fruits and vegetables. At the same time, water
used to grow these crops has led to the need for agricultural
drainage.
As implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
(SGMA) gets underway, questions are emerging about what it will
mean for lands protected under the Williamson Act, California’s
chief farmland preservation policy. For nearly 60 years, the
Williamson Act has helped protect 16 million acres—roughly half
of the state’s crop- and rangelands—from development. But as
SGMA’s limitations on groundwater extraction go into effect—and
as warmer, more intense droughts begin to push land out of
irrigation–the context within which the program operates is
shifting. In July, we gathered a group of agriculture, solar,
and county stakeholders to explore the interplay between the
Williamson Act and SGMA in the San Joaquin Valley. Here is what
we learned.
Where does the water go? The Kern River’s abrupt stop,
practically mid-channel, can be jarring. The full river
suddenly goes dry just outside Bakersfield leaving a dusty
channel snaking through the heart of town. Why? Where does all
that water go? Who owns it? How does it all work? Our video
project, “Law of the River,” answers those questions and
more as we look at the river’s history, how it operates, who
owns the water and what the future may hold. This is the
first in a series of videos that will look at each stop along
the way for Kern River flows.
California is amid its driest period since
record-keeping began, a drought made drier by climate
change. In June, the state curtailed water
allotments for thousands of users across the state,
including in agricultural areas like the San Joaquin Valley,
where Christine [Gemperle] farms. … The narrative around the
almond industry’s excessive consumption of water frustrates
Christine; everything in American refrigerators takes water to
produce, and she thinks the media wields statistics about
almond farming’s use of water like a weapon. Christine takes it
personally. Water scarcity has undoubtedly put strain on the
farm; last year she ripped out one orchard early to save water.
Agriculture in California faces an uncertain future as drought,
wildfires and other climate extremes become more commonplace in
the West. But a fledgling industry focused on growing and
distilling agave plants, which are used to produce tequila and
mezcal in Mexico, could be California’s answer to fallowed
fields and a lack of water. Earlier this year a group of
growers, distillers and retailers formed the California Agave
Council to foster collaboration and offer a chance to share
knowledge among members who previously had no formal network.
California farmers and ranchers affected by a third consecutive
year of drought and related emergency curtailments of water
deliveries have planted fewer acres, fallowed fields or reduced
livestock herds to make it through the season. Siskiyou County
rancher Ryan Walker, president of the county’s Farm Bureau,
said farmers affected by emergency water curtailments—readopted
in July by the State Water Resources Control Board—face water
shortages and high hay prices, which impact ranchers’ ability
to maintain livestock herds.
Until the development of the major state and federal water
projects that began delivering surface water to the area in the
second half of the 20th century, the Central Valley relied
almost exclusively on groundwater. Heavy pumping of groundwater
has led to significant land subsidence throughout the valley,
causing major damage in some areas to canals, aqueducts, and
other infrastructure. This subsidence was particularly
pronounced in the valley’s southern half, which is known as the
San Joaquin Valley. By 1970, approximately half the San Joaquin
Valley, or roughly 5,200 sq mi, had subsided by at least 1 ft,
according to the website of the U.S. Geological Survey. Some
locations had subsided by as much as 28 ft.
[A]s climate change brings hotter, drier conditions, the
American dream is getting harder to achieve in the Valley.
Because of severe drought the past few years, farmers have left
some fields unplanted. And with fewer acres to plant and
harvest, many workers have had their hours cut or lost their
jobs. … [State senator Melissa Hurtado] says many of
these workers are struggling to pay rent and feed their
families. So she’s proposed legislation that
would provide qualified farmworkers with a $1,000 monthly
stipend for three years.
Many small and rural communities across California are
vulnerable to drought and water shortages as they lack the
diverse water sources and infrastructure of big cities like San
Francisco and Los Angeles. In some cases, these communities are
forced to rely on bottled water or water hauled in from
elsewhere, which experts say is costly and
unsustainable. Data from the state water board’s 2022
“Drinking Water Needs Assessment” shows that nearly 90 water
providers across the state, including six in the Bay Area, have
had to resort to bottled or hauled-in water to fully meet their
communities’ drinking water needs in the past three years.
The megadrought in the West is a time of reckoning for farmers.
… California is in a better position than western desert
states, because some areas of the state have adequate
rainfall. For California, the problem is not so much
growing water-intensive crops, but growing them in the driest
areas in the state. The arid scrubland on the southern floor of
the San Joaquin Valley gets about 7-8 inches of rain on
average. The farmland in this region was traditionally used for
grazing and low-water use crops such as winter wheat. … The
expansion of permanent crops has increased farm income, but has
also been a major cause of groundwater depletion.
A new web-based tool developed by the Department of Water
Resources (DWR) will allow the public to explore thousands of
groundwater projects across California to get a better
understanding of one of the state’s most critical water supply
resources. The virtual mapping tool is part of the State’s
ongoing commitment to develop new, innovative solutions to
provide information and resources to address the effects of
California’s changing climate and ongoing severe drought.
California’s top law official met with southcentral Fresno
residents Tuesday to discuss their environmental concerns — and
promised to use his office to help them create healthier
communities. … The group raised a number of
environmental and health concerns during the hour-long meeting
with Bonta, which was conducted in both English and Spanish.
Some of the main concerns raised were: the public health impact
of exposure to industrial and agricultural pollution,
especially preventable diseases, the need for more
pedestrian-safe roads, concerns about industrial growth in the
area without community input, to the need for improved water
quality and infrastructure in rural communities, and more.
The San Joaquin Valley is California’s largest agricultural
region, but it’s facing an uncertain future. A combination of
persistent drought and the rollout of California’s Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act will increase regional water
scarcity in the coming decades. Water scarcity will have a
major effect on land use: At least half a million acres are
projected to come out of irrigated production in the San
Joaquin Valley by 2040. This raises a thorny question: What
happens to all this newly fallowed land? -Written by Andrew Ayres, a research fellow of
the Public Policy Institute of California Water Policy Center;
and Caitlin Peterson, associate director of the
Public Policy Institute of California Water Policy Center.
The prospect of being sent to California’s “groundwater cop”
strikes dread in the hearts of most water managers. But for
John Vidovich, having the Tulare Lake subbasin come under the
glare of the State Water Resources Control Board may be the
only way to end an irrigation practice by the J.G. Boswell
Company that he says is wasteful, abusive and contributing to
the sinking of an entire town. Boswell, which has not responded
to requests for comment, pumps large amounts of groundwater
into massive shallow ponds for later irrigation, something
Vidovich, who runs Sandridge Partners, has complained about for
years.
Thousands of acres of crops, from corn to nectarines, surround
Melynda Metheney’s community in West Goshen, California — one
of the key battlegrounds where residents say irrigation and
overpumping have depleted drinkable water. … In 2012,
Community Water Center (CWC) told the Goshen community of about
3,300 that its water was contaminated with nitrates. Residents
spent two years fighting to connect to Cal Water — the third
largest regulated utility in the nation — and only some did.
Some of Metheney’s West Goshen neighbors still don’t have well
water.
Water is the lifeblood in the parched San Joaquin Valley,
sustaining endless acres of trees, seeds and pastures that feed
a hungry nation. But a controversial pipeline sits empty, as
dry as dust, caught in an angry feud between two of
California’s largest land barons, Silicon Valley developer and
farmer John Vidovich and Pasadena-based longtime cotton king
J.G. Boswell Company. Vidovich needs the pipe to move water.
The Boswell Company wants it blocked, saying it threatens the
company’s own water supplies, which run through a canal over
the pipeline’s underground route.
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.
Small Valley communities are drying up. The latest town to find
itself waterless is Tooleville, east of Exeter on Highway 65.
In the middle of July, with temperatures soaring and the
intense Valley summer in full swing, residents of the town
found the well they rely on was delivering just a dribble where
it was working at all. With the aid of Self-Help Enterprises,
the town is now dependent on a pair of water tanks and costly
daily deliveries of trucked-in water.
A proposed fee system to manage irrigated land in Madera County
has sparked a successful protest, leaving one groundwater
agency unfunded and at least one farmer claiming the process
was done with minimal notice. … Three newly formed
groundwater sustainable agencies — Chowchilla Subbasin, the
Madera Subbasin and the Delta Mendota Subbasin — are left with
no funding for four ongoing groundwater projects required under
California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. It’s the
County of Madera that oversees the land, said Stephanie
Anagnason, director of water and natural resources for Madera
County.
Drought cut short a pilot program to bring South Fork Kern
River water through Lake Isabella and down 60 miles to farmland
northwest of Bakersfield. Now, a raft of lawsuits could upend
the environmental impact report in support of the project,
which has been a goal of the Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage
District since it bought the old Onyx Ranch in 2013. The
project was doomed from the start, said one board member of the
water district that led the lawsuit charge.
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.
Rural residents in Tulare County are more likely to be exposed
to harmful water than a third of the state’s population and the
State Water Board has been slow to flow funds into areas to fix
failing water systems. A report by the California State Auditor
last month revealed Tulare County was among nine counties in
the state that represented almost 90% of Californians
vulnerable to water systems with poor water quality.
The San Joaquin Valley is California’s agricultural heartland
and at the center of the state’s water challenges. As the
region brings its groundwater basins into balance under the
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), over half a
million acres of irrigated farmland may need to come out of
production. At a virtual event last week, PPIC researchers and
a panel of local experts moderated by Ellen Hanak, director of
the PPIC Water Policy Center, discussed how to manage this
massive transition while reaping the greatest benefits from
idled land and mitigating air quality concerns.
Drive by a flooded almond orchard in the countryside
surrounding Manteca, Ripon and Escalon and your first thought
might be outrage. After all, California is slipping
deeper into a third year of a devastating drought. Looks,
however, can be deceiving. What looks like a waste of
water is actually helping keep water flowing to your home to
wash clothes, drink, flush toilets, shower or bathe, and wash
dishes and such if you live in Manteca, Ripon, and Lathrop.
The Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority in eastern Kern
County has signed a “letter of intent” to buy the rights to 750
acre feet of state water for $6,396,000 from a State Water
Project contractor in Kings County. The purchase is part of the
authority’s plan to bring that overdrafted groundwater basin
into balance. The seller is Utica J.L.J. LLC, which purchased
the Jackson Ranch and is developing a truck stop and industrial
center on 400 acres at Utica Avenue and Interstate 5, just
south of Kettleman City.
960,000 acres of land in California are used to produce
alfalfa, using 2 million gallons of water per acre, per year,
all of which goes to feed livestock. What kind of livestock?
Mostly dairy cows, of which there are 2.5 million in California
alone. … It turns out, states [author Richard] Oppenlander,
“60 to 70 percent of California water goes to livestock and
crops to feed them.” …Once I learned that it takes 1,000
gallons of water to produce one gallon of milk, (raising the
cow, growing grain for the cow, cleaning the cow) buying
non-dairy milk sounds like a much wiser choice. Once I learned
that it takes 2,400 gallons of water to produce one pound of
meat, giving up meat altogether seems like the only choice.
-Written by Patsy Ouellette, a longtime
environmental advocate.
As California’s prolonged drought continues, the State is at a
crossroads. Recent headlines have been dominated
by devastating wildfires and a growing number of the
State’s poorest communities without water. These
catastrophic conditions demand answers and solutions from our
leaders. … With the cost of living continuing to climb,
the San Joaquin Valley’s most vibrant sector – agriculture –
cannot continue to feed our communities, state, nation, or the
world, if we do not have the most basic resource necessary to
grow food, water. -Written by William Bourdeau, executive vice
president of Harris Farms, director of the Westlands Water
District, and chairman of the Valley Future
Foundation.
Leasing for new oil and gas drilling on federal land in central
California is temporarily blocked under a
settlement announced Monday between the state and the U.S.
Bureau of Land Management. … Fracking is the process of
injecting a high-pressure mix of mostly water with some sand
and chemical additives into rock to create or expand fractures
that allow oil and gas to be extracted. It’s a controversial
practice due to concerns about the injected chemicals
contaminating groundwater.
When Maria Regalado Garcia tried to wash the dishes in her
California home one recent morning, only a trickle of water
emerged from the kitchen faucet. Other taps in her Tooleville
house in rural Tulare County ran similarly dry. … Garcia
and her neighbors, who intermittently lose tap water at home,
are among those most affected by a historic drought that’s
blanketed the West, scorched California and caused a growing
list of water troubles for residents and farmers.
Nearly a million Californians have unsafe drinking water and
the agency charged with helping them is ill-equipped to do
so. That’s according to a new state audit of the
California Water Resources Control Board, which says 920,000
residents are at increased risk of liver and kidney problems —
and even cancer — because they get water from systems that fail
to meet contaminant standards for safe drinking water. The
auditor says more than 800 water systems in the state are in
that “failing” category, a number that has more than doubled in
the last year.
It’s no simple feat to raise a dam. In fact, it’s taken
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 34 years to get from the first
feasibility study to expand the dam at Lake Success in Tulare
County to finally getting construction underway. The
improvements to Lake Success’ Schafer Dam, named after longtime
Tule River watermaster Richard L. Schafer, are needed to
protect downstream communities in case of a flood, said Calvin
Foster, southern operations branch chief for the Corps’
Sacramento District. … On the second dam project,
the Corps is also nearly finished with improvements to the two
dams on Lake Isabella in Kern County.
A new Fresno EOC program is offering as much as $2,000 to help
low-income residents pay past-due water and sewer
bills. But you need to act quickly to receive the one-time
grants, which will be distributed on a first-come, first-served
basis. The program ends in August 2023. Fresno EOC
officials say the grants are for households that are in danger
of losing or have lost their water services. According to
the State Water Resources Control Board, about half a million
Californians have had water shutoffs since 2019 due to
nonpayment.
A state audit found that nearly one million Californians have
contaminated drinking water. The report found that 920,000
people could face health issues from unsafe drinking water. The
California State Auditor found there are 370 failing water
systems in California that are putting almost a million
residents at risk. … The audit criticizes the State
Water Resources Control Board for a lack of urgency in getting
funding to these smaller systems, which often rely on well
water.
Often touted as the breadbasket of the world, California’s San
Joaquin Valley is the most agriculturally productive region on
Earth with over 250 different crops grown. But the area is also
a well-irrigated desert, and years of below-average rain and
snowfall have dried up its relatively few water sources. So
far, farmers in the region have fallowed approximately 100,000
acres of farmland. Experts believe that by 2040, drought may
force up to 500,000 acres to be fallowed. … The Public Policy
Institute of California (PPIC) released two reports and held a
webinar Tuesday to discuss both fallowing of land and the
resulting dust pollution as well as a solution: dryland
farming.
Farmers and water managers may need to do more to engage with
lawmakers from outside the Central Valley before the state
Legislature can be persuaded to make important investments in
water storage and other infrastructure projects, members of
Kern’s Sacramento delegation told an audience Tuesday of the
Water Association of Kern County. The three locally
elected representatives — Assemblyman Vince Fong and state
Sens. Shannon Grove and Melissa Hurtado — made the request
in the context of their frustration with big-city, coastal
lawmakers they said misunderstand how things work in not only
the water world but in-state energy production as well.
Sometimes, it takes zooming out to a bird’s eye view to fully
understand the devastating impacts of drought in California.
Images captured from space by government and private satellites
offer a sobering look at how the current drought — in year
three — is affecting the state’s land and natural
resources. The latest data from the U.S. Drought Monitor
shows about 97% of California in moderate or worse
drought, with much of the Central Valley and southern portions
of the state in the worst conditions.
More water will flow into farms and cities on the Valley’s east
side after a decision by the federal government to increase the
supply streaming down canals. On July 20, the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation (USBR) announced it will increase the water supply
delivered to contractors along the eastern side of the Valley
to 30%, doubling the original allocation of 15% announced in
February. The amount of Class 1 water, for contractors with
first rights for water deliveries, was confirmed by Friant
Water Authority, which operates the Friant-Kern Canal, in a
July 22 update on its website.
California’s state auditor blasted the agency responsible for
helping poor communities fix their tainted water systems
Tuesday, saying the it has tied up the process in red tape and
forced nearly 1 million residents to wait months or years for
help. Acting State Auditor Michael Tilden said the State Water
Resources Control Board takes an average of 33 months to
approve grants and loans requested by these communities to
clean up water systems contaminated by excess amounts of
nitrate, arsenic and other dangerous chemicals.
… Nitrate, the result of farm fertilizer seeping into
the water supply, can cause numerous health issues for infants.
Excessive levels of arsenic can cause problems with skin and
circulatory systems, and elevate the risk of cancer.
As California declared multiple drought
emergencies and imposed mandatory water restrictions on
residents in recent years, the state’s almond farmers expanded
their orchards by a remarkable 78%, according to new
research by Food & Water Watch. In a brief but
critical report issued last week, the climate and consumer
advocacy group found that California’s nut farms have grown
steadily over the past 12 years, even as the state’s water
crisis has deepened. Between 2017 and 2021 alone, almond and
pistachio crops expanded so quickly that they required an
additional 523 billion gallons of irrigation water.
The latest blow in an ongoing water war between two Kings
County agricultural titans may put control of the entire
region’s groundwater into state hands. The J.G. Boswell Farming
Company and Sandridge Partners, controlled by John Vidovich,
have been scuffling over water in court, on ditch banks and
even in the air with accusations on both sides of various types
of water skulduggery. On July 22, the Southwest Kings
Groundwater Sustainability Agency, controlled by Vidovich,
voted to approve the region’s groundwater plan subject to an
addendum that state representatives warned — during the meeting
– could nullify the plan and lead to state control over
groundwater.
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) is urging the public to
avoid contact with water at San Luis Reservoir in Merced County
until further notice due to blue-green algae (cyanobacteria).
Boating is allowed, but swimming and other water-contact
recreation and sporting activities are not considered safe due
to potential adverse health effects. For more information on
warning level advisories, go to Harmful Algal Bloom website
under Advisory Signs.
Three San Joaquin Valley water agencies are gearing up to spend
$10 million each in grant funding from the state Department of
Conservation to retire or repurpose farmland. Valley agencies
that have received grants so far include the Kaweah Delta Water
Conservation District, Pixley Irrigation District Groundwater
Sustainability Agency (GSA) and Madera County.
… Estimates are that 100,000 acres of farmland will need
to be taken out of production if the subbasin is to comply with
state law and reach groundwater sustainability, said Reyn
Akiona, watershed coordinator for the Tule subbasin.
Two agencies in the San Joaquin Valley are closer to funding
water conservation projects thanks to an $800,000 grant from
the Bureau of Reclamation. The money comes from the
Bureau’s Agricultural Water and Conservation Efficiency
grants. About $362,000 will go to the Corcoran Irrigation
District in Kings County and $430,000 will go to the Lost Hills
Water District in Kern County. The money will partially
fund projects aimed at water savings and streamlining water
transportation and storage. The rest of the funding will come
from local contributions.
As I drive across my family’s farm in the San Joaquin Valley,
it feels as if I’m traveling on a chessboard. I cross one
square with crops and then another without crops — our fields
that must lay fallow. Our farm’s crops have been decimated by
the drought. Last year, reduced water deliveries in the state
led to 395,000 acres of cropland being idled, according to UC
Merced researchers, and about 8,750 agricultural workers lost
their jobs. … Without enough water, farmers in
California can’t survive. The state’s aging water supply
infrastructure has not kept up with the growth of the
state. -Written by Joe L. Del Bosque, CEO and president
of the family-owned Del Bosque Farms in the San Joaquin
Valley.
Residents in the Merced County town of Ballico are advised not
to drink the water after a mechanical failure at the well which
supplies the community. According to Tricia Wathen, section
chief of the State Water Resources Control Board Division of
Drinking Water Central California, the board was notified
Saturday that a Ballico Community Services District well failed
on Friday afternoon. Wathen said the problem is believed to be
mechanical, and is expected to be repaired once parts are
available. … The community worked with Merced County Office
of Emergency Services and a local school to connect water to
the system from the school’s irrigation well.
The ink is barely dry on the Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act and here comes more legislation to redo what has been the
most significant change in California water law in over 100
years. The California Department of Water Resources has not
finished evaluating Groundwater Sustainability Plans submitted
by local agencies under SGMA, which established a cooperative
framework to protect California’s groundwater resources. But
already legislation—Assembly Bill 2201 by Steve Bennett,
D-Ventura—seeks to change SGMA in ways that would bring
unnecessary confusion and disruption into the
process. -Written by Danny Merkley, director of water
resources for the California Farm Bureau; and Jack
Gualco, president of The Gualco Group Inc.
Exeter officially put an end to their drinking water warning
after swapping well 6’s production that included high nitrate
levels with well 9 that was recently rehabilitated. The
drinking water warning due to high levels of nitrates from well
6 in Exeter has been lifted. Women who are pregnant and infants
could safely drink the city’s water as of July 14, ending the
two month warning period. The warning was lifted after the
city’s alternative well – well 9 – became fully operational. It
had been undergoing rehabilitation work to prepare for high
demand in the summer months. While well 9 was offline, all
other wells had to remain online in order to meet peak hour
water pressure demands.
The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) requires
groundwater users to bring their basins into balance over the
next two decades. In the San Joaquin Valley, this will mean
taking more than 500,000 acres of agricultural land out of
intensive irrigated production. Among other issues, this could
potentially lead to air quality impacts if the lands become new
sources of dust, especially windblown dust, which can have
numerous negative short- and long-term health and environmental
impacts. In addition, the changing climate may exacerbate risks
as warmer temperatures can dry out soils and increase dust
emissions.
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.
The rollout of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act (SGMA) is altering the state’s agricultural landscape. As
groundwater sustainability measures are implemented and water
scarcity increases, at least half a million acres are projected
to come out of irrigated production in the San Joaquin Valley,
the state’s agricultural heartland. Rather than widespread land
idling—which comes with unintended consequences such as dust,
weeds, pests, and soil degradation—a switch from summer
irrigated crops to winter crops produced with limited water
(including winter cereals and forage crops, among others) might
keep some of this land in production.
Groundwater levels are dropping and domestic wells throughout
the San Joaquin Valley are going dry as California’s third year
of drought grinds on. That includes entire towns, such as East
Orosi and Tooleville in Tulare County, which both went dry last
week. It’s bad. But it may get worse. Area water suppliers are
“locking down” and may not have enough to share, equipment is
in short supply and so are people to get the water to those in
need.
A company seeks to drill two very deep wells in Stanislaus
County to capture some of the carbon dioxide involved in
climate change. Aemetis Inc. would sink the wells at its
ethanol plant in Keyes and another coming soon to Riverbank.
They would be perhaps 8,000 feet deep, far below groundwater
sources, and would store close to 40 million tons of compressed
gas over 20 years. The $250 million project would put the
county at the forefront of the effort to sequester CO2 that
otherwise would trap heat in the atmosphere. Experts say
climate change is already disrupting agriculture, raising sea
levels and making storms and wildfires more extreme.
Soils in the San Joaquin Valley of California have been a
source of selenium (Se) release through dissolution into
agricultural drainage, requiring treatment before discharge to
the environment. A full-scale primarily anaerobic, granular
activated-carbon (GAC) bioreactor with an empty bed contact
time ranging from 3.4 to 5.0 h was fed
757 L/min757 L/min of second-pass agricultural drainage water
(ADW) at the San Luis Demonstration Treatment Plant (SLDTP) in
Firebaugh, California, for 1,062 days. This study
summarized startup of an actual water treatment plant with a
process scheme that had never been designed or operated at this
scale.
The town of Tooleville in Tulare County is once again without
water. The town, which has struggled for years with dropping
groundwater levels and contamination issues, saw its wells dry
up over the weekend. On July 15, residents called
nonprofit Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
reporting very low water pressure and some with no water at
all, said Elvia Olea, policy advocate for Leadership
Counsel. This is the second town in Tulare County to lose
water this summer. East Orosi, about 30 miles north of
Tooleville, was without water for 24 hours when one of its two
wells went down July 12, according to news reports. A pump was
installed and restored water to East Orosi.
California may be winning its five-year, $13 million battle
with nutria — the 20-pound, orange-toothed swamp rodents that
biologists once feared would play hell with wetlands,
flood-control levees and the state’s water-delivery system. …
[Valerie Cook, who runs the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s
nutria eradication program] said her team is seeing nutria
numbers declining, and they’ve managed to keep them out of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California’s most important
waterway. Scientists who deal with invasive pests were
first alarmed when nutria — a beagle-sized rodent native to the
wetlands of South America — were spotted in a private
duck-hunting marsh in the spring of 2017 near the farming
community of Gustine in Merced County.
Growing up in Dinuba, my family and I worried about whether the
water coming out of our tap was safe to drink. We knew that our
groundwater was likely contaminated by nitrates and other toxic
chemicals from agriculture. Like many other immigrant families,
we would fill up three 5-gallon containers of water at a
vending machine station on a weekly basis. To this day, we
still don’t trust that the water in our home is safe to
drink. -Written by Emmanuel Agraz Torres, an ambassador
with California Environmental Voters Education Fund and a
student at California State University, Fresno.
California’s historic drought may leave the state with the
largest amount of empty farmland in recent memory as farmers
face unprecedented cuts to crucial water supplies. The size of
fields intended for almonds, rice, wine grapes and other crops
left unworked could be around 800,000 acres, double the size of
last year and the most in at least several decades, said Josue
Medellin-Azuara, an associate professor at University of
California Merced.
A year after receiving funding from the Budget Act of 2021, the
Department of Water Resources (DWR) has successfully awarded
more than $440 million to date in drought relief assistance to
small and urban communities to address water supply challenges
and help build local resilience. The Budget Act of 2021
allocated $500 million in total drought-relief funds to DWR
following extreme dry conditions and Governor Newsom’s
statewide drought emergency declaration.
Three San Joaquin Valley water agencies are gearing up to spend
$10 million each in grant funding from the state Department of
Conservation to retire or repurpose farmland. Valley agencies
that received grants so far include the Kaweah Delta Water
Conservation District, Pixley Irrigation District Groundwater
Sustainbility Agency (GSA) and Madera County. SJV Water will
look at how each agency plans to use its $10 million in
separate articles.
In California, climate change is already a reality. Annual
devastating wildfires, years long droughts and over-pumped
groundwater systems are symptoms of the onset of a global
environmental catastrophe. Researchers worldwide are
desperately looking for ways to avert the worst case scenario
and, should it already be too late, deal with the new
environmental challenges in the most effective way possible.
The Solar Canal Project, a kilometer-long network of irrigation
canals in California which will be used to generate renewable
energy, is emerging as one promising solution to these
challenges.
There is a state mandate to consolidate [small] water
systems with larger nearby communities by 2024. But that wasn’t
soon enough for East Orosi, an unincorporated Tulare County
hamlet southeast of Fresno. The water went off Tuesday
afternoon. A temporary fix allowed the water to run
sporadically on Wednesday. By then, a family had lost their
home to a fire they had no water to fight. Children had spent a
day scrambling to keep pets and livestock from dying. And in
this community that already depends on bottled water for
drinking, everyone knew the taps could soon go dry again.
As much of the Western United States suffers from drought and
cities turn to water restrictions to help conserve water,
farmers in California are becoming increasingly worried about
how it will impact consumers around the country. Fresno County
Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen’s farmers in California’s Central
Valley are preparing to harvest almonds in an area that
produces about 80 percent of the state’s supply.
… Jacobsen is a fourth-generation farmer on both sides
of his family, meaning he and his ancestors have seen many good
and bad years for harvesting.
Months after crying foul over a diversion of water resources,
it appears that water agencies reliant on Friant Dam will see a
boost in water supplies, Federal water officials announced on
Friday. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation raised allocation to
Class 1 contractors within the Friant Division of the Central
Valley Project from 15 to 20 percent. Class 2 Friant
contractors have not received an allocation for two straight
years. The trend, Federal officials announced, will continue
for the time being.
Ask and ye shall receive — at least partially. And the Friant
Water Authority is hopeful there’s more to come. FWA announced
on Friday the Bureau of Reclamation has increased its 2022
water allocation for Friant Division Class 1 contractors from
15 to 20 percent. FWA added as in the past two years, Friant
Division Class 2 contractors continued to received 0 percent,
“which continues to reflect the hydrology for the 2022 water
year is very dry.”
Farmers and cities on the east side of the Valley may get more
water than they originally thought. Friant Water
Authority, which operates the Friant-Kern Canal, said in a
recent memo on its website it is confident its contractors will
not only get the 15% allocation of surface water deliveries
announced in February but that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
will likely increase the amount to 20%, possibly as early as
this week. … Better snow and rainfall in the
Sacramento area late in the spring has allowed the Bureau of
Reclamation to budget more water to be delivered to the San
Joaquin Exchange Contractors …
Farmers in southern Tulare County on June 30 soundly rejected a
proposed land fee that would have helped pay a lump sum
settlement of $125 million toward fixing the Friant-Kern
Canal, which has sunk because of excessive groundwater pumping.
The Eastern Tule Groundwater Sustainability Agency agreed in
2020 to pay a portion of the cost to repair the canal to Friant
Water Authority. … The settlement agreement between
Eastern Tule and Friant laid out two payment options. The GSA
would either pay a lump sum of $125 million by the end of 2022,
or $200 million over the next decade through pumping fees
charged to its farmers.
The next six weeks, California pistachios will be on close
watch around how much–if any, the current drought in the state
is affecting its growth or “nut fill.” … So while some
growers are located in areas with good groundwater and/or are
receiving some supply of surface water, others have zero
surface water and also limited sources of groundwater.
… At the same time, the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA) is starting to be implemented. This
legislation, which passed in 2014, requires that all
groundwater basins in California be sustainable and agencies
were formed to ensure compliance with the act.
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.
This tour ventured through California’s Central Valley, known as the nation’s breadbasket thanks to an imported supply of surface water and local groundwater. Covering about 20,000 square miles through the heart of the state, the valley provides 25 percent of the nation’s food, including 40 percent of all fruits, nuts and vegetables consumed throughout the country.
Across a sprawling corner of southern Tulare County snug against the Sierra Nevada, a bounty of navel oranges, grapes, pistachios, hay and other crops sprout from the loam and clay of the San Joaquin Valley. Groundwater helps keep these orchards, vineyards and fields vibrant and supports a multibillion-dollar agricultural economy across the valley. But that bounty has come at a price. Overpumping of groundwater has depleted aquifers, dried up household wells and degraded ecosystems.
Innovative efforts to accelerate
restoration of headwater forests and to improve a river for the
benefit of both farmers and fish. Hard-earned lessons for water
agencies from a string of devastating California wildfires.
Efforts to drought-proof a chronically water-short region of
California. And a broad debate surrounding how best to address
persistent challenges facing the Colorado River.
These were among the issues Western Water explored in
2019, and are still worth taking a look at in case you missed
them.
To survive the next drought and meet
the looming demands of the state’s groundwater sustainability
law, California is going to have to put more water back in the
ground. But as other Western states have found, recharging
overpumped aquifers is no easy task.
Successfully recharging aquifers could bring multiple benefits
for farms and wildlife and help restore the vital interconnection
between groundwater and rivers or streams. As local areas around
California draft their groundwater sustainability plans, though,
landowners in the hardest hit regions of the state know they will
have to reduce pumping to address the chronic overdraft in which
millions of acre-feet more are withdrawn than are naturally
recharged.
Bruce Babbitt, the former Arizona
governor and secretary of the Interior, has been a thoughtful,
provocative and sometimes forceful voice in some of the most
high-profile water conflicts over the last 40 years, including
groundwater management in Arizona and the reduction of
California’s take of the Colorado River. In 2016, former
California Gov. Jerry Brown named Babbitt as a special adviser to
work on matters relating to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and
the Delta tunnels plan.
Groundwater helped make Kern County
the king of California agricultural production, with a $7 billion
annual array of crops that help feed the nation. That success has
come at a price, however. Decades of unchecked groundwater
pumping in the county and elsewhere across the state have left
some aquifers severely depleted. Now, the county’s water managers
have less than a year left to devise a plan that manages and
protects groundwater for the long term, yet ensures that Kern
County’s economy can continue to thrive, even with less water.
The whims of political fate decided
in 2018 that state bond money would not be forthcoming to help
repair the subsidence-damaged parts of Friant-Kern Canal, the
152-mile conduit that conveys water from the San Joaquin River to
farms that fuel a multibillion-dollar agricultural economy along
the east side of the fertile San Joaquin Valley.
There’s going to be a new governor
in California next year – and a host of challenges both old and
new involving the state’s most vital natural resource, water.
So what should be the next governor’s water priorities?
That was one of the questions put to more than 150 participants
during a wrap-up session at the end of the Water Education
Foundation’s Sept. 20 Water Summit in Sacramento.
The Sacramento and San Joaquin
rivers are the two major Central Valley waterways that feed the
Delta, the hub of California’s water supply
network. Our last water tours of
2018 will look in-depth at how these rivers are managed and
used for agriculture, cities and the environment. You’ll see
infrastructure, learn about efforts to restore salmon runs and
talk to people with expertise on these rivers.
More than a decade in the making, an
ambitious plan to deal with the vexing problem of salt and
nitrates in the soils that seep into key groundwater basins of
the Central Valley is moving toward implementation. But its
authors are not who you might expect.
An unusual collaboration of agricultural interests, cities, water
agencies and environmental justice advocates collaborated for
years to find common ground to address a set of problems that
have rendered family wells undrinkable and some soil virtually
unusable for farming.
New water storage is the holy grail
primarily for agricultural interests in California, and in 2014
the door to achieving long-held ambitions opened with the passage
of Proposition
1, which included $2.7 billion for the public benefits
portion of new reservoirs and groundwater storage projects. The
statute stipulated that the money is specifically for the
benefits that a new storage project would offer to the ecosystem,
water quality, flood control, emergency response and recreation.
California voters may experience a sense of déjà vu this year when they are asked twice in the same year to consider water bonds — one in June, the other headed to the November ballot.
Both tackle a variety of water issues, from helping disadvantaged communities get clean drinking water to making flood management improvements. But they avoid more controversial proposals, such as new surface storage, and they propose to do some very different things to appeal to different constituencies.
Get a unique view of the San Joaquin Valley’s key dams and
reservoirs that store and transport water on our March Central
Valley Tour.
Our Central Valley
Tour, March 14-16, offers a broad view of water issues
in the San Joaquin Valley. In addition to the farms, orchards,
critical habitat for threatened bird populations, flood bypasses
and a national wildlife refuge, we visit some of California’s
major water infrastructure projects.
Participants of this tour snaked 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.
The 2-day, 1-night tour traveled along the river from Friant
Dam near Fresno to the confluence of the Merced River. As it
weaved across an historic farming region, participants learn
about the status of the river’s restoration and how the
challenges of the plan are being worked out.
A few tickets are still available for our Nov. 1-2 San Joaquin River
Restoration Tour, a once-a-year educational opportunity to
see the program’s progress first-hand. The tour begins and ends
in Fresno with an overnight stay in Los Banos.
Explore more than 100 miles of Central California’s longest river
while learning about one of the nation’s largest and costliest
river restorations. Our San Joaquin River
Restoration Tour on Nov. 1-2 will feature speakers from key
governmental agencies and stakeholder groups who will explain the
restoration program’s goals and progress.
The Sacramento and San Joaquin are the two major rivers in the
Central Valley that feed the Delta, the hub of
California’s water supply network.
Our last two water tours of 2017 will take in-depth looks at how
these rivers are managed and used for agriculture, cities and the
environment. You’ll see infrastructure, learn about efforts to
restore salmon runs and talk to people with expertise on these
rivers.
Protecting and restoring California’s populations of threatened
and endangered Chinook salmon and steelhead trout have been a big
part of the state’s water management picture for more than 20
years. Significant resources have been dedicated to helping the
various runs of the iconic fish, with successes and setbacks. In
a landscape dramatically altered from its natural setting,
finding a balance between the competing demands for water is
challenging.
Our water tours give a behind-the-scenes look at major water
issues in California. On our Central Valley Tour, March
8-10, you will visit wildlife habitat areas – some of which are
closed to the public – and learn directly from the experts who
manage them, in addition to seeing farms, large dams and other
infrastructure.
The recent deluge has led to changes in drought conditions in
some areas of California and even public scrutiny of the
possibility that the drought is over. Many eyes are focused on
the San Joaquin Valley, one of the areas hardest hit by reduced
surface water supplies. On our Central Valley Tour, March
8-10, we will visit key water delivery and storage sites in the
San Joaquin Valley, including Friant Dam and Millerton Lake
on the San Joaquin River.
ARkStorm stands for an atmospheric
river (“AR”) that carries precipitation levels expected to occur
once every 1,000 years (“k”). The concept was presented in a 2011
report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) intended to elevate
the visibility of the very real threats to human life, property
and ecosystems posed by extreme storms on the West Coast.
Contaminants exist in water supplies from both natural and
manmade sources. Even those chemicals present without human
intervention can be mobilized from introduction of certain
pollutants from both
point and nonpoint sources.
Both the drought and high nitrate levels in shallow groundwater have necessitated deeper
drilling of new wells in the San Joaquin Valley, only to expose
water with heightened
arsenic levels. Arsenic usually exists in water as arsenate
or arsenite, the latter of which is more frequent in deep lake
sediments or groundwater with little oxygen and is both
more harmful and difficult to remove.
Whiskeytown Lake, a major reservoir in the foothills of the
Klamath Mountains nine miles west of Redding, was
built at the site of one of Shasta County’s first Gold Rush
communities. Whiskeytown, originally called
Whiskey Creek Diggings, was founded in 1849 and named in
reference to a whiskey barrel rolling off a citizen’s pack mule;
it may also refer to miners drinking a barrel per day.
A new era of groundwater management
began in 2014 with the passage of the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA), which aims for local and regional agencies
to develop and implement sustainable groundwater management
plans with the state as the backstop.
SGMA defines “sustainable groundwater management” as the
“management and use of groundwater in a manner that can be
maintained during the planning and implementation horizon without
causing undesirable results.”
This issue examines the impacts of California’s epic
drought, especially related to water supplies for San Joaquin
Valley rural communities and farmland.
This handbook provides crucial
background information on the Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act, signed into law in 2014 by Gov. Jerry Brown. The handbook
also includes a section on options for new governance.
This 3-day, 2-night tour, which we do every spring,
travels the length of the San Joaquin Valley, giving participants
a clear understanding of the State Water Project and Central
Valley Project.
This 30-minute documentary-style DVD on the history and current
state of the San Joaquin River Restoration Program includes an
overview of the geography and history of the river, historical
and current water delivery and uses, the genesis and timeline of
the 1988 lawsuit, how the settlement was reached and what was
agreed to.
This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership
with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an
excellent overview of climate change and how it is already
affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists
anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and
precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are
underway to plan and adapt to climate.
Salt. In a small amount, it’s a gift from nature. But any doctor
will tell you, if you take in too much salt, you’ll start to have
health problems. The same negative effect is happening to land in
the Central Valley. The problem scientists call “salinity” poses
a growing threat to our food supply, our drinking water quality
and our way of life. The problem of salt buildup and potential –
but costly – solutions are highlighted in this 2008 public
television documentary narrated by comedian Paul Rodriguez.
A 20-minute version of the 2008 public television documentary
Salt of the Earth: Salinity in California’s Central Valley. This
DVD is ideal for showing at community forums and speaking
engagements to help the public understand the complex issues
surrounding the problem of salt build up in the Central Valley
potential – but costly – solutions. Narrated by comedian Paul
Rodriquez.
This 3-day, 2-night tour travels the length of the San Joaquin
Valley, giving participants a clear understanding of the State
Water Project and Central Valley Project.
15-minute DVD that graphically portrays the potential disaster
should a major earthquake hit the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
“Delta Warning” depicts what would happen in the event of an
earthquake registering 6.5 on the Richter scale: 30 levee breaks,
16 flooded islands and a 300 billion gallon intrusion of salt
water from the Bay – the “big gulp” – which would shut down the
State Water Project and Central Valley Project pumping plants.
30-minute DVD that traces the history of the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and its role in the development of the West. Includes
extensive historic footage of farming and the construction of
dams and other water projects, and discusses historic and modern
day issues.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, features
a map of the San Joaquin River. The map text focuses on the San
Joaquin River Restoration Program, which aims to restore flows
and populations of Chinook salmon to the river below Friant Dam
to its confluence with the Merced River. The text discusses the
history of the program, its goals and ongoing challenges with
implementation.
Fashioned after the popular California Water Map, this 24×36 inch
poster was extensively re-designed in 2017 to better illustrate
the value and use of groundwater in California, the main types of
aquifers, and the connection between groundwater and surface
water.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Integrated Regional Water
Management (IRWM) is an in-depth, easy-to-understand publication
that provides background information on the principles of IRWM,
its funding history and how it differs from the traditional water
management approach.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Groundwater is an in-depth,
easy-to-understand publication that provides background and
perspective on groundwater. The guide explains what groundwater
is – not an underground network of rivers and lakes! – and the
history of its use in California.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to
Flood Management explains the physical flood control system,
including levees; discusses previous flood events (including the
1997 flooding); explores issues of floodplain management and
development; provides an overview of flood forecasting; and
outlines ongoing flood control projects.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to California Water provides an
excellent overview of the history of water development and use in
California. It includes sections on flood management; the state,
federal and Colorado River delivery systems; Delta issues; water
rights; environmental issues; water quality; and options for
stretching the water supply such as water marketing and
conjunctive use. New in this 10th edition of the guide is a
section on the human need for water.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Central Valley Project
explores the history and development of the federal Central
Valley Project (CVP), California’s largest surface water delivery
system. In addition to the project’s history, the guide describes
the various CVP facilities, CVP operations, the benefits the CVP
brought to the state and the CVP Improvement Act (CVPIA).
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Delta explores the competing
uses and demands on California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Included in the guide are sections on the history of the Delta,
its role in the state’s water system, and its many complex issues
with sections on water quality, levees, salinity and agricultural
drainage, fish and wildlife, and water distribution.
A new look for our most popular product! And it’s the perfect
gift for the water wonk in your life.
Our 24×36 inch California Water Map is widely known for being the
definitive poster that shows the integral role water plays in the
state. On this updated version, it is easier to see California’s
natural waterways and man-made reservoirs and aqueducts
– including federally, state and locally funded
projects – the wild and scenic rivers system, and
natural lakes. The map features beautiful photos of
California’s natural environment, rivers, water projects,
wildlife, and urban and agricultural uses and the
text focuses on key issues: water supply, water use, water
projects, the Delta, wild and scenic rivers and the Colorado
River.
Located in the middle of California, the San Joaquin Valley is
bracketed on both sides by mountain ranges. Long and flat, the
valley’s hot, dry summers are followed by cool, foggy winters
that make it one of the most productive agricultural regions in
the world.
The valley stretches from across mid-California between coastal
ranges in west and the Sierras on the east. The region includes
large cities such as Fresno and Bakersfield, national parks such
as Yosemite and Kings, millions of people, and fertile farmland.
Flowing 366 miles from the Sierra
Nevada to Suisun Bay, the San Joaquin River provides irrigation
water to thousands of acres of San Joaquin Valley farms and
drinking water to some of the valley’s cities. It also is the
focal point for one of the nation’s most ambitious river
restoration projects to revive salmon populations.
The Pacific Flyway is one of four
major North American migration routes for birds, especially
waterfowl, and extends from Alaska and Canada, through
California, to Mexico and South America. Each year, birds follow
ancestral patterns as they travel the flyway on their annual
north-south migration. Along the way, they need stopover sites
such as wetlands with suitable habitat and food supplies. In
California, 90 percent of historic wetlands have been lost.
This issue of Western Water looks at the BDCP and the
Coalition to Support Delta Projects, issues that are aimed at
improving the health and safety of the Delta while solidifying
California’s long-term water supply reliability.
This printed issue of Western Water features a
roundtable discussion with Anthony Saracino, a water resources
consultant; Martha Davis, executive manager of policy development
with the Inland Empire Utilities Agency and senior policy advisor
to the Delta Stewardship Council; Stuart Leavenworth, editorial
page editor of The Sacramento Bee and Ellen Hanak, co-director of
research and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of
California.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the issues
associated with the State Water Board’s proposed revision of the
water quality Bay-Delta Plan, most notably the question of
whether additional flows are needed for the system, and how they
might be provided.
This printed issue of Western Water examines
groundwater banking, a water management strategy with appreciable
benefits but not without challenges and controversy.
This printed copy of Western Water examines the challenges facing
small water systems, including drought preparedness, limited
operating expenses and the hurdles of complying with costlier
regulations. Much of the article is based on presentations at the
November 2007 Small Systems Conference sponsored by the Water
Education Foundation and the California Department of Water
Resources.
This Western Water looks at proposed new measures to deal with
the century-old problem of salinity with a special focus on San
Joaquin Valley farms and cities.
