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Hydropower Turbine Proposal Would Cut Power Costs for Three NorCal Cities

/in , /by /CBS Sacramentoby Laura Haefeli

Three cities in Northern California may see a change in their energy bill if a proposal to buy power from a renewable energy company is approved.

“The prices have moved up here over the years,” said Grace Henderson.

Henderson has lived in Manteca for 25 years and says the place has only gotten pricier.

“Inflation is an issue right now, so all the prices are higher when you go to the gas station and the grocery store so that’s a major issue,” she said.

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SSJID Suing State After Sacramento Goes After Its Water

/in , /by /The Manteca Bulliten

South San Joaquin Irrigation District is suing the state in a bid to avoid a curtailment order from creating severe water shortages in 2022 for 200,000 Manteca, Lathrop, and Tracy residents and growers farming nearly 55,000 acres

SSJID, along with Oakdale Irrigation District, over a century ago secured first-in-line rights under state law for the initial 600,000 acre feet of annual water runoff in the Stanislaus River Basin.

A curtailment order issued Aug. 20 by the State Water Resources Control Board is essentially seizing the water the SSJID and OID legally own and prevents the agencies from diverting and storing Stanislaus River runoff in Donnells, Beardsley, New Melones and Tulloch Reservoirs.

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Bureau Blocks Water Transfer to Help Save SJ Valley Farmers

/in , /by /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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State Warns of Possible Water Shortages

/in , , /by /Manteca Bulliten

California farmers relying on State Water Project water were warned Monday to prepare for potential shortages by reducing water use and adopting practical conservation measures. Reservoir and groundwater levels are significantly below average, and despite recent storms, snowpack is only 58% of average as of March 10.

 

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SSJID Worried Drought May be on the Way

/in , , /by /Manteca Bulletinby Dennis Wyatt

The South San Joaquin Irrigation District season is starting March 10 although board members added an asterisk to that decision. Restrictions on water allocation as the irrigation season unfolds loom as a possibility especially if March ends up being mostly dry. The board last week was guided by the conservative outlook the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration posted for its California and Nevada River Forecast that includes the Stanislaus River watershed that the SSJID relies on to make deliveries to farmers irrigating 52,000 acres around Manteca, Ripon, and Escalon as well as deliver drinking water to Manteca, Lathrop, and Tracy.

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