Tag Archive for: Central Valley Project

U.S. Warns California Cities to Prepare for Possible Water Cuts and Fourth Year of Drought

/in , , /by /CNBCby Emma Newburger

Federal water managers on Monday warned California cities and industrial users receiving water from the Central Valley Project to prepare for a fourth year of drought and possibly “extremely limited water supply” during 2023.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, an agency of the Interior Department that oversees water resource management, said drought conditions in California have persisted despite early storms this month, and warned of looming water conservation actions.

Full Story

Shasta Lake Helped Water California; Now its Dryness is a Threat to the State

/in , , /by /Wall Street Journalby Jim Carlton Mentioned: https://www.wsj.com/articles/shasta-lake-helped-water-california-now-its-dryness-is-a-threat-to-the-state-11665864898

Few places are more critical to the water supply in California than this immense northern reservoir in the foothills of the Cascade Range.

Fed by runoff from 14,163-foot Mount Shasta and other peaks, California’s largest reservoir opened in 1945 as part of the federal Central Valley Project, an elaborate system of man-made dams, pumps and aqueducts that aims to reduce flood risks and deliver water to farms and cities in the heart of the semiarid state.

Drought Means Central Valley Project Begins 2023 Water Year With Low Storage

/in , , /by /Hydro Reviewby Elizabeth Ingram

After a third straight year of severe drought, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Central Valley Project in California is beginning the 2023 water year with 3.6 million acre-feet of water in storage — one of the lowest starting points in recent years.

Full Story

Shasta Lake Level Causing Far-Reaching Ripple Effects

/in , , /by /KXTL (FOX 40)by Dennis Shanahan

California’s largest reservoir, Shasta Lake, is located 175 miles north of Sacramento. But what happens there impacts farming throughout the entire Central Valley.

Shasta Lake is capable of holding 4,552,100 acre-feet of water, which is almost five times the capacity of Folsom Lake. When full, Shasta boasts 365 miles of scenic shoreline. But for those visiting the lake in recent months, it is impossible to ignore how that shoreline is shrinking. The water is about 150 feet below the ideal surface level.

“We’re coming out of the three driest years on record,” explained Don Bader, area manager for the Bureau of Reclamation. “So that’s a huge hit to our storage, as you can see.”

Full Story

East Valley Farmers and Cities May Get More Surface Water This Summer

/in , , /by /The Sun Gazetteby John Lindt

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.

Full Story

Drought Picture Grows More Bleak for Agriculture

/in , /by /AgAlertby Christine Souza

As California toils through a third consecutive drought year, many Sacramento Valley farmers, well known for supporting waterfowl that stop along the Pacific Flyway, are being left high and dry.

The farmers are facing water-supply challenges that are worse this season than in previous dry years.

“This drought is hitting Northern California really hard and in some unprecedented ways,” said Ellen Hanak, director of water policy for the Public Policy Institute of California, speaking last week on drought at a meeting of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture.

Full Story

Court Rules Federal Government Didn’t Stiff Fresno, Other Water Users During Last Drought

/in , , /by /The Fresno Beeby Lois Henry

The federal government did not breach its contract when it gave water users, including the city of Fresno, a zero water allocation in the extreme drought year of 2014, according to a ruling issued June 6 in Federal Claims Court.

It may not seem fair, Judge Armando Bonilla wrote in his ruling, and “To be clear, a zero allocation for the Friant contractors was harsh,” but the fact is the Friant division of the Central Valley Project is outranked by superior water rights held by the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors.

 

Full Story

State Curtails River Diversions Again. What That Means to Modesto-area Water Users

/in , , /by /The Modesto Beeby John Holland and Dale Kasler

The state has again stopped river diversions in much of Stanislaus and nearby counties, but the effect on farms and cities is minimal for the moment.

The orders allow water agencies to continue delivering supplies already in reservoirs. They include the Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts and San Francisco on the Tuolumne River, and the Oakdale and South San Joaquin districts on the Stanislaus River.

These agencies have enough stored water for this year, but they still challenge the state’s authority over their long-held river rights.

Full Story

Opinion: New Melones Modeling & Megadroughts: Setting Stage for State’s Water Armageddon

/in , /by /Manteca Bulletinby Dennis Wyatt

New Melones Reservoir is the proverbial canary in the mine when it comes to where state water policy wedded with the return of megadroughts is taking California.

Using historical hydrology data on the Stanislaus River basin between 1922 and 2019:

*Based on current regulatory rules New Melones Reservoir would fall below 250,000 acre feet of storage in 3 out of the 98 years.

Full Story

‘Everyone Loses’: Sacramento Valley Struggles to Survive Unprecedented Water Cuts

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Rachel Becker

Standing on the grassy plateau where water is piped onto his property, Josh Davy wished his feet were wet and his irrigation ditch full.

Three years ago, when he sank everything he had into 66 acres of irrigated pasture in Shasta County, Davy thought he’d drought-proofed his cattle operation.

Full Story