The extraordinary turnaround in California’s water picture is becoming a windfall for farm country. Federal officials announced Tuesday that the 20 reservoirs that make up the Central Valley Project are so swollen with winter runoff that many growers will get all the water they requested this year — a remarkable change from the past few years when countless orchards and fields received no federal water at all.
The lead author in the House of Representatives of a big and controversial California water bill that passed last year is back for more. With a Republican in the White House and the GOP controlling Congress, Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., said Tuesday that he was hoping to build on last year’s legislation that was loved by farmers and loathed by environmentalists. The bill scales back an ambitious San Joaquin River restoration program, speeds completion of California dam feasibility studies and locks in certain water deliveries to Sacramento Valley irrigation districts, among other things.
The epic rainfall that has pummeled Southern California this winter has lifted the area out of extreme drought – and it’s also been great for air quality. Strong winds blow smoke, soot and particulates out of the L.A. basin, while rain rinses the air clean. This winter is the 7th wettest in Southern California since 1946, according to data through February 24. Air pollution has exceeded federal standards for particulate matter on just 7 days since November 2016. Compare that to 35 days in the same period in 2014-2015, the worst winter of the drought.
Until a few weeks ago, the McCormack-Williamson Tract in the California Delta was an island of low-lying farmland, more than two square miles protected from the surrounding rivers and sloughs by earthen levees. Today the tract is an immense lake, up to 15 feet deep, with fish prowling the water and ducks skimming the surface. The adjacent Mokelumne River, swollen by the intense storms that have drenched the state this winter, caused a levee to break, allowing the water to rush in.
Until a few weeks ago, the McCormack-Williamson Tract in the California Delta was an island of low-lying farmland, more than two square miles protected from the surrounding rivers and sloughs by earthen levees. Today the tract is an immense lake, up to 15 feet deep, with fish prowling the water and ducks skimming the surface. The adjacent Mokelumne River, swollen by the intense storms that have drenched the state this winter, caused a levee to break, allowing the water to rush in.
Unbridled pumping of aquifers in California’s San Joaquin Valley is severely reducing the land’s capacity to hold water, according to a Stanford University study. The loss of storage is due to subsidence, which is the compaction of soils as a result of removing too much water. The study, which provides the first estimate of the permanent loss of groundwater storage space that occurred during a drought from 2007 to 2010, also shows that California lost natural water storage capacity equal to a medium-sized reservoir.
As if we don’t have enough trouble from flooding, extreme amounts of rain caused by back-to-back storms systems in the state could create enough pressure in the groundwater system to trigger earthquakes along California’s faults, a new report says. California has received record amounts of rain this winter, causing everything from dam failures to widespread flooding and mudslides.
This winter’s record-breaking storms have proven a fierce test of our state and its infrastructure. It has has been particularly frightening for people in and around the city of Oroville. We’d first like to say how glad we are that hundreds of thousands of people were able to safely evacuate and the emergency spillway helped provide the necessary time to do so. And we share their relief at being able to return to their homes. Now that the immediate danger is passed, we can take a more thoughtful look at what happened.
There is a cycle to the conversation about infrastructure and how to pay for it. And it goes like this in California: A few politicians say that infrastructure – roads, bridges, tunnels, railways, dams and more – are the lifeblood of economic prosperity. Editorial boards point out that Gov. Pat Brown and the Legislature of his era helped make California an economic power by investing in the massive California State Water Project and highways, and by making the University of California system the best in the world.
In 2014, California voters approved a $7.5 billion bond that would go to several water projects. So far, only 2 percent of the money has been used, and the rest has been sitting in a fund, untapped. In light of the Oroville Dam scare in early February, lawmakers are looking to focus their attention on flood management projects, such as fixing old dams and maybe building new ones. However, some are hoping lawmakers will look over the lowest-priority projects and instead focus on water storage with all the recent precipitation.
