California Drought, Dry Conditions Causing Concern for Farms and Agriculture
Much of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valley regions are seeing abnormally dry or drought-like weather so far in winter 2021.
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Fresno-Area Utility Providers Face Financial Crisis. Can They Keep the Water Running?
/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /The Fresno Beeby Monica VaughanUnpaid water bills are piling up during the pandemic, as small water providers in the central San Joaquin Valley teeter toward a financial crisis that could affect drinking water quality and affordability.
In the Heart of the San Joaquin Valley, Two Groundwater Sustainability Agencies Try to Find Their Balance
/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Western Water (Water Education Foundation)by Gary Pitzer and Douglas E. BeemanGroundwater keeps the San Joaquin Valley’s orchards, vineyards and fields vibrant and supports a multibillion-dollar agricultural economy. But that bounty has come at a price. Overpumping of groundwater has depleted aquifers, dried up household wells and degraded ecosystems. Now, hundreds of agencies in California have the task of making things right in their respective groundwater basins – no easy task considering the enormity of the problem and the need to protect both the farm economy and the drinking water for vulnerable communities. Western Water examined how two San Joaquin Valley groundwater sustainability agencies are striving to find that balance.
How a Water War on the Kings River Could Alter the Valley as We Know it
/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /The Sunby Alex TavlianThough it doesn’t hold historical contentiousness like its counterpart along the Central Valley Project, the Kings River has its own tale to tell.
Serving as a lifeline of sorts for three of the central San Joaquin Valley’s five major counties, the Kings is filled with its own universe of water agencies run by engineers, lawyers, farmers, and politicos jockeying to manage the state’s most precious resource on one stream.
Opinion: After COVID-19, Drought Threat Still Looms
/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /CalMattersby Dan WaltersCalifornia is enveloped in balmy weather that’s more like spring than mid-winter — and that’s not a good thing. We have seen only scant rain and snow this winter, indicating that the state may be experiencing one of its periodic droughts and adding another layer of crisis to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recession. The all-important Sierra snowpack, California’s primary source of water, is scarcely half of what is deemed a normal depth.
Opinion: Water Partnerships Between Cities and Farms Would Help Prepare for a Changing Climate
/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /CalMattersby Alvar Escriva-BouSan Joaquin Valley farms and Southern California cities are facing different but equally daunting water challenges. For Valley farmers, the requirement to achieve groundwater sustainability in coming years has heightened interest in expanding water supplies to reduce the need to fallow irrigated farmland. For Southern California, falling demands since the early 2000s have reduced water stress during normal and wet years, but a warming climate makes future droughts a major concern.
The Ongoing Collapse of the World’s Aquifers
/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Wiredby Matt SimonAs California’s economy skyrocketed during the 20th century, its land headed in the opposite direction. A booming agricultural industry in the state’s San Joaquin Valley, combined with punishing droughts, led to the over-extraction of water from aquifers. Like huge, empty water bottles, the aquifers crumpled, a phenomenon geologists call subsidence. By 1970, the land had sunk as much as 28 feet in the valley, with less-than-ideal consequences for the humans and infrastructure above the aquifers.
Clean Water Plans Need More Public Involvement, Activists Say
/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /San Joaquin Valley Waterby Lois HenryThe stage is finally set for years of talking to be translated into actual clean drinking water for potentially thousands of San Joaquin Valley residents. But activists fear the effort will flop before the curtain rises if more isn’t done to engage the people who are drinking that water. The issue is nitrate, which is rife the valley’s groundwater and considered dangerous for infants and pregnant women.
Valley Groundwater May Get (Small) Slice of State’s $15 Billion Surplus
/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /SJV Waterby Lois HenryThe Governor’s proposal for how to spend California’s $15 billion surplus includes $60 million in direct grants to help replenish groundwater in the valley’s most depleted basins.
The measure specifies the money is to be used in “critically over-drafted basins,” which lie mostly in the San Joaquin Valley.
ETGSA Approves $22,000 Contribution to WBSJV
/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /The Recorderby Alexis EspinozaOn Thursday afternoon, the Eastern Tule Groundwater Sustainability Agency’s Authority Board of Directors hosted a meeting over Zoom, and as part of the agenda the ETGSA approved a contribution to Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley to identify water supplies in the amount of $22,000.
WBSJV has been working to identify the water supplies that might be available to achieve water sustainability in the San Joaquin Valley, including the Tule Subbasin. The ETGSA represents irrigation districts and farmers in southern Tulare County and is part of the Tule Subbasin.
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