San Joaquin Valley Archives

Opinion: California Was Just Inundated With Much-needed Water. Too Bad We Didn’t Save Much of It

January 25, 2023/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The Sacramento Beeby Ian Lemay

The recent series of atmospheric rivers dumped enough rain and snow on Northern California to give us hope that the end of the drought may be near. California’s Department of Water Resources is reporting that the state’s snow water equivalent, or how much water the snowpack is expected to yield, is almost double what we expect at this time of year. According to department officials, it’s “the best start to our snowpack in over a decade.”

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California Drought Costly to Growers, Jobs as Farmland Shrinks. New Study Shows How Much

November 28, 2022/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The Sacramento Beeby Maggie Angst

As California prepares for a fourth consecutive year of drought and farmland across the Golden State increasingly goes idle, growers continue to face mounting economic challenges. In a new report about the financial toll of the state’s extreme drought conditions, researchers estimated that the state’s irrigated farmland dropped by 752,000 acres, or nearly 10%, from 2019 to 2022.

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Question of Water Rights Looms Over Ccontroversial Proposed New Dam

November 22, 2022/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /SJV Waterby Jesse Vad

A controversial proposed dam seems to have a new pathway forward. But how far will it get through California’s byzantine world of water rights? Nobody seems to agree on an answer. The Del Puerto Canyon Reservoir is a joint project between the Del Puerto Water District and the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractor Authority on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.

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San Joaquin Valley Residents, Growers Vying for Water in Fourth Year of Drought

November 21, 2022/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Courthouse News Serviceby Natalie Hanson

Noemi Barrera has spent four months without running water for herself and her four children and is among many people in California living without it as wells across the state run dry. Like most in the 184-person agricultural community of Tooleville, nestled by the Tulare County foothills, Barrera can hear the county’s water truck arriving down the street to bring five-gallon jug rations every other week.

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As Drought Persists, Crucial Groundwater Supplies Dwindle

October 13, 2022/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Gayle Falkenthal /Capitol Weeklyby Liam Gravvat

More than 60% of California’s groundwater wells are operating at below-normal levels, endangering much of the Golden State’s population that relies on the precious resource.

Although relatively unknown to many Californians, who see water supply in terms of rivers, streams and reservoirs, groundwater is a hugely vital source that is largely invisible.

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The Mad Rush for Groundwater in the Central Valley

September 15, 2022/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /KQEDby Saul Gonzalez, Attila Pelit and Katrin Snow

Most Californians are feeling the effects of the drought. But in areas of the state where people rely on groundwater, such as the San Joaquin Valley, the pain of this drought is especially severe. Wells are going dry and there’s intense competition to find and pull more water from underground.

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A Battle for Safe Drinking Water Grows Heated Amid Drought in California’s Central Valley

August 8, 2022/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Courthouse News Serviceby Natalie Hanson

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.

“You know what you’re up against when you live in these communities. You have to decide, are there enough of us?” said Metheney, standing in her parched yard.

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Opinion: Can San Joaquin Valley Agriculture Survive With Less Irrigation? Here Are Ways to Do It

July 29, 2022/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The Fresno Beeby Caitlin Peterson

Change is coming to farming in the San Joaquin Valley. Because of the need to reduce groundwater pumping to comply with the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, we’ve estimated that at least 500,000 acres of farmland will need to come out of irrigated production in the coming years.

This is a major shift for California’s agricultural heartland, and one that will have profound impacts on the region’s residents, workers, economy, and environment.

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Opinion: The Drought is Decimating My Farm and Many Others. What California Should Do to Help Us

July 26, 2022/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Los Angeles Timesby Joe L. Del Bosque

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.

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