Central Valley Project Archives

As It Enters a Third Year, California’s Drought Is Strangling the Farming Industry

March 21, 2022/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The Washington Postby Scott Wilson

The school is disappearing.

Westside Elementary opened its doors nearly a century ago here in the San Joaquin Valley, among the most productive agricultural regions on earth. As recently as 1995, nearly 500 students filled its classrooms. Now 160 students attend and enrollment is falling fast.

This was where the children of farmworkers learned to read and write, often next to the children of the farm owners who employed their parents.

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Drought Limits Water Supply for Western US Agriculture

March 9, 2022/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Argus Mediaby Jasmine Davis

The US Bureau of Reclamation announced last month that irrigation districts accounting for farmers across California’s Central Valley would receive a zero-water allocation from the Central Valley Project as early-year dryness weighs on anticipated water supply. No water is allocated for irrigation north and south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin river delta, including off the Sacramento river, according to the 23 February announcement. Additional allocations will be announced in May.

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Opinion: Liz Writes Life: California’s Drought Is an Alarming Problem

March 7, 2022/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The Siskiyou Daily Newsby Liz Bowen

No rain or snow in January and February certainly added to the drought in California. L.A. Times reporter Ian James reported on Feb. 24 that many farmers in the federal Central Valley Project will not receive water from the federal system this year. In mid-February, the federal Bureau of Reclamation announced a zero-water allocation for many irrigation districts that supply farmers throughout the Central Valley. Makes one wonder: Where our food will be grown?

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As Drought Persists, Minimal Water Deliveries Announced for the Central Valley Project

February 24, 2022/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Los Angeles Times by Ian James

With California entering a third year of drought and its reservoirs at low levels, the federal government has announced plans to deliver minimal amounts of water through the Central Valley Project, putting many farmers on notice that they should prepare to receive no water from the system this year.

The federal Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the project’s dams and canals, announced a zero-water allocation for irrigation districts that supply many farmers across the Central Valley. Cities that receive water from the project in the Central Valley and parts of the Bay Area were allocated 25% of their historical water use.

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Citing Drought, US Won’t Give Water to California Farmers

February 24, 2022/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /AP Newsby Adam Beam

With California entering the third year of severe drought, federal officials said Wednesday they won’t deliver any water to farmers in the state’s major agricultural region — a decision that will force many to plant fewer crops in the fertile soil that yields the bulk of the nation’s fruits, nuts and vegetables.

“It’s devastating to the agricultural economy and to those people that rely on it,” said Ernest Conant, regional director for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. “But unfortunately we can’t make it rain.”

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California’s Drought Endures: Feds’ Central Valley Project Announces 0% Water for Farmers

February 23, 2022/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Fresno Beeby Dale Kasler

Farmers in California’s Central Valley are in for another brutal summer of drought.

The federal government announced initial 2022 water allocations Wednesday for customers of the Central Valley Project, and the figures were dismal: Most irrigation districts in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys can expect to receive no deliveries from the project’s vast network of reservoirs and canals.

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Opinion: The Power of Water

December 29, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Gayle Falkenthal /Escalon Timesby Dennis Wyatt

Water made California.

The statement is often made about what is arguably the largest and most complex water transfer systems ever created by mankind — the California State Water Project — and its kissing cousin the federal Central Valley Project.

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Managing Water Stored for the Environment During Drought

November 8, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kristiene Gong /California WaterBlogby Sarah Null, Jeffrey Mount, Brian Gray, Michael Dettinger, Kristen Dybala, Gokce Sencan, Anna Sturrock, Barton “Buzz” Thompson, Harrison “HB” Zeff

Storing water in reservoirs is important for maintaining freshwater ecosystem health and protecting native species. Stored water also is essential for adapting to the changing climate, especially warming and drought intensification. Yet, reservoir operators often treat environmental objectives as a constraint, rather than as a priority akin to water deliveries for cities and farms. Reservoir management becomes especially challenging during severe droughts when surface water supplies are scarce, and urban and agricultural demands conflict with water supplies needed to maintain healthy waterways and wetlands. In times of drought, most freshwater ecosystems suffer.

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Bureau Blocks Water Transfer to Help Save SJ Valley Farmers

June 22, 2021/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /Manteca Bullitenby Dennis Wyatt

Farmers on the western edge of the parched San Joaquin Valley have little or no ground water resources this year. The South San Joaquin Irrigation District and Oakdale Irrigation District have legal rights to 200,000 acre feet of water sitting behind New Melones Reservoir beyond this year’s needs of the farms and urban customers they serve. The two districts want to help the farmers who will face a difficult choice: Let tens of thousands of acres of productive orchards die and leave cropland fallow or else accelerate groundwater pumping to exacerbate dropping aquifers the State of California has identified as a pressing issue.

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Irrigation Districts Agree to Send Water from New Melones South to Drought-Stricken Farmers

June 21, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /The Union Democratby Alex MacLean

As much as 100,000 acre-feet of water — enough to meet the annual demand of more than 40,000 Tuolumne County residents for at least five years — that’s currently stored in New Melones Reservoir could soon be sent south to aid drought-stricken farmers under an agreement between the Oakdale and South San Joaquin irrigation districts.

On Wednesday, the districts announced their respective boards had approved the proposal that would benefit agricultural contractors on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley who’ve been cut off from their typical annual water supplies through the federal Central Valley Project due to the drought conditions.

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