Drought Archives - Page 5 of 11

Drought • SGMA

Ag well permitting process still causing confusion in Kern County

June 22, 2022

• by Lois Henry

Kern County hasn’t issued a single agricultural well permit since early April and frustration in the ag community is at a boiling point. Ag well permitting slowed to a crawl up and down the San Joaquin Valley after Gov. Newsom issued an emergency drought order on March 28 that added an extra layer of scrutiny…

Drought

Bulk of money in state’s plan to buy water rights directed at northern California watersheds

June 15, 2022

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

A California Senate proposal to spend $2 billion to buy senior water rights would focus mostly on rights in northern California watersheds with another large chunk aimed at farmland retirement throughout the state. The proposal is included in an $18.5 billion climate plan within the state budget, which likely won’t be finalized until the end…

Drought • Rivers

How does more rain in northern California equal less flows in the San Joaquin River?

June 14, 2022

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

Water has been flowing down the San Joaquin River since the beginning of April. But, ironically, late spring rains could halt the flow. The water coming out of Millerton Lake just above Fresno is flowing because of a contract within California’s complicated water rights system. The water is going to the San Joaquin River Exchange…

Drought

Ruling: The feds didn’t stiff water users in last drought

June 10, 2022

• by Lois Henry

The federal government did not breach its contract when it gave water users, including the City of Fresno, a zero water allocation in the extreme drought year of 2014, according to a ruling issued June 6 in Federal Claims Court. It may not seem fair, Judge Armando Bonilla wrote in his ruling, and “To be…

Drinking Water • Drought

Clawing its way toward clean water, tiny Allensworth keeps pushing forward

June 9, 2022

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

The long quest for clean drinking water in the small town of Allensworth has been beset by all manner of challenges – arsenic, a thicket of government red tape, lack of funding and even a protected lizard. Now, after 14 years of wrangling (including having a special bill passed), as residents are finally on the…

Drought • Rivers

VIDEO: Restoring salmon on the San Joaquin during three years of drought

May 25, 2022

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

A legal settlement in 2006 created the San Joaquin River Restoration Program to reestablish the spring-run Chinook salmon population that once thrived there. The program has created a native population through careful breeding and water management. Towns Burgess, lead fish biologist with the restoration program, explains how it has been operating through three years of…

Drought • SGMA

Drought, groundwater restrictions and – oh yeah, drought – pervade talk at annual Kern water summit

May 19, 2022

• by Lois Henry

Local and state water leaders were practically upbeat two years ago at the last in-person Water Summit put on by the Water Association of Kern County. At least as upbeat as California water folks typically get. They advocated for new ideas, radical partnerships and solutions that could benefit both ag and environmental interests. That was…

Drought

Kern River run off predicted to be downright miserly

May 3, 2022

• by Lois Henry

Kern River watershed watcher Scott Williams put out what will be his final Kern River Snow and Water Report May 3 and the news was grim. The predicted run off for the Kern River has dwindled from an already meager 33% of normal last month to a downright miserly 28% of normal this month. The…

Drinking Water • Drought

SJV communities get state cash to plug leaks

May 3, 2022

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

An infusion of state cash will plug several leaky drinking water systems that serve rural communities in the San Joaquin Valley in the near future. The money, $22 million, comes from the Small Community Drought Relief Program under the Department of Water Resources (DWR). That money will fund 17 projects throughout the state, with about…

Drought

Third year of drought pushes price of water to $2,000 an acre foot

April 26, 2022

• by Lois Henry

A sale of agricultural water within the Panoche Water District on the upper west side of the San Joaquin Valley hit the eye-popping price of $2,000 per acre foot recently. The buyer bought 668 acre feet in a deal that was brokered by Nat DiBuduo with Alliance Ag Services. The buyer, whose name was withheld,…

NEWS

Ag well permitting process still causing confusion in Kern County

Bulk of money in state’s plan to buy water rights directed at northern California watersheds

How does more rain in northern California equal less flows in the San Joaquin River?

Ruling: The feds didn’t stiff water users in last drought

Clawing its way toward clean water, tiny Allensworth keeps pushing forward

VIDEO: Restoring salmon on the San Joaquin during three years of drought

Drought, groundwater restrictions and – oh yeah, drought – pervade talk at annual Kern water summit

Kern River run off predicted to be downright miserly

SJV communities get state cash to plug leaks

Third year of drought pushes price of water to $2,000 an acre foot

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