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A space-age tool aims to bring water use down to Earth

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern
New satellite technology could be a critical piece to the future of water trading in the San Joaquin Valley, according to those working on the tech. OpenET, an online platform that uses satellite imagery to estimate how much water is used by different crops, launched publicly on October 21. The platform is already being tested…
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VIDEO: The uncertain future of valley farmland

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern
Valley farmers have relied on groundwater for generations. That is changing under the state’s new Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, SGMA, that mandates aquifers be brought into balance by 2040. That means more water can’t be pumped out than is recharged into the aquifer. Pumping restrictions could mean significant portions of the valley’s farmland will have…
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Farmland repurposing bill passes state Senate committee

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern
A bill that would create a program to help growers find other uses for farmland idled because of groundwater pumping restrictions won approval by a Senate committee, bringing it closer to the Governor’s desk. AB 252, known as the multibenefit land repurposing incentive program, passed the Senate Appropriations Committee August 26. The bill, authored by…
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Bill aimed at repurposing farmland is a step closer to passing

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern
Lawmakers may be close to passing a bill aimed at helping farmers cope with water restrictions. Assembly Bill 252, the Multibenefit Land Repurposing Incentive Program, would set up a program under the California Department of Conservation to use grant money for repurposing former ag land in critically over drafted groundwater basins. The bill was authored…
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Kern River water rights case gets hearing date

• by Lois Henry
Whether the Kern River truly has spare water and, if so, how much, has been left up in the air for more than a decade. Now, 11 years after the State Water Resources Control Board ruled the Kern  River was not fully appropriated, it will finally start the process of getting at those two key…
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Valley rivers going dry

• by Lois Henry
Southern San Joaquin Valley Rivers are running at near historic lows — again. In fact, the Bakersfield City Council passed a resolution Wednesday officially declaring the Kern River as running at only 17% of normal, it’s second driest year since record keeping began in 1893. The driest year on record was 2015, the worst year…
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Search for groundwater gets high-tech boost

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern
Groundwater is one of the hottest ticket items in California’s water world these days. But much about it is a mystery. Where is it? How does it move? Which are the best spots to percolate water into the ground for storage? At least two technologies hope to answer some of those questions: airborne electromagnetic surveys…
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Drought driving up water prices

• by Lois Henry
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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The sinking Central Valley town

• by Lois Henry
Editor’s note: This article was produced by SJV Water, the Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism (CCIJ) and the New York Times. The collaboration between SJV Water and CCIJ was led by the Institute for Nonprofit News as part of a project called “Tapped Out: Power, justice and water in the West.”   This story was written with funding from the…
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