No cut to Friant water users – so far
Though questions remain about whether San Joaquin Valley towns and farms that rely on water from Millerton Lake could be cut to zero, as they were in the last drought, water managers are moving ahead as if that won’t happen. In 2014 and 2015, the federal Bureau of Reclamation wasn’t able to get enough water…
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San Joaquin River flows halted to protect salmon
Flows into the San Joaquin River under a program to bring back native salmon will be stopped now through early September to try and protect fish already upstream. The flow reduction being instituted by the San Joaquin Restoration Program is in reaction to rapidly dwindling runoff coming out of the Sierra Nevada mountains this year….
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California’s mountains are dry. Now we know how dry
In a pitifully dry year like 2021, understanding the state’s skimpy snowpack is critical. Multi-million dollar decisions can hinge on even the smallest amounts of snow melt squeezed out of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Which makes information provided by Airborne Snow Observatories, Inc. flights vital, according to water managers. “Right now, there’s still 10,000 to…
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Drought driving up water prices
If you were looking for some bargain priced water this year, you’re out of luck. “We got out of the market when we started seeing prices north of $900 an acre foot,” said Jason Gianquinto, General Manager of Semitropic Water Storage District in western Kern County. “That’s just too much for us. We had some…
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Dry conditions could cut Friant water to zero in a replay of 2014-2015 drought
Farms and towns in the south San Joaquin Valley that rely on water from Millerton Lake north of Fresno are anxiously waiting to hear if they will be cut to zero again this year. That happened in 2014 and again in 2015 when that prolonged drought was so bad the Bureau of Reclamation couldn’t deliver…
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Will climate change alter water rights?
The specter of climate change isn’t just impacting weather, it could also change California water rights, according to experts who spoke at this year’s annual Water Summit put on by the Water Association of Kern County. The May 25 virtual event included a host of experts who caught attendees up on the latest information about…
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Valley wells already going dry as drought settles in
Dry wells are starting to crop up throughout California’s San Joaquin Valley as the 2021 drought digs in. And as the parched state barrels toward summer, the risk of more wells going dry is increasing. For some, that possibility is already a scary reality. Misty Vasquez was at work in December, when her husband called…
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Virtual Water Summit – May 25
The Water Association of Kern County’s annual Water Summit is virtual this year but will still pack a punch of who’s who in the water world.
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Students find saving water “elementary”
When a region’s groundwater is critically depleted and its dirt as hard as a frying pan, how do you refill the aquifer? Ask a fifth grader. Actually, ask the fifth and sixth grade combination class at Bakersfield’s Munsey Elementary School taught by Barbara Elrod. Elrod’s students discovered a pretty cool way to both conserve water…
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Delano’s “big dig”
The state’s new groundwater law has prompted a lot of dirt movement in the Central Valley. The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act passed in 2014 mandates that overdrafted water basins get their aquifers in balance — don’t pump out more than goes back in — by 2040. In order to get there without massive farmland fallowing,…
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Maven's Notebook is an excellent daily accounting of California water happenings statewide.
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