delta Archives - SJV Water

Valley agencies in a race against winter and a fast-approaching state deadline to repair flood damage

September 22, 2023

• by Lisa McEwen, SJV Water

All across Tulare County, the race is on to repair flood-damaged infrastructure before an anticipated El Niño winter and an even more looming expiration of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order that relaxed permitting for levee work and debris clean up. The work has lagged, though, as creeks and rivers are still flowing or the ground…

Drought

More wet weather boosts water supplies for San Joaquin Valley farms and cities

February 22, 2023

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

Farms and cities that rely on water out of California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta got more good news this week as state and federal water agencies took measures to move more water south. The moves come between a significant series of stories earlier this winter and as the state faces a rare wet, cold front that…

Rivers • Uncategorized

VIDEO: More water in the Kern River – where from this time?

February 21, 2023

• by Lois Henry

The Kern River came alive again recently as the Kern County Water Agency pumped water into one section of the dry riverbed from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Various water agencies have been using the river to move or store water as supplies have increased thanks to the relatively wet winter California has experienced so…

dams

Question of water rights looms over controversial proposed new dam

November 21, 2022

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

A controversial proposed dam seems to have a new pathway forward. But how far will it get through California’s byzantine world of water rights? Nobody seems to agree on an answer. The Del Puerto Canyon Reservoir is a joint project between the Del Puerto Water District and the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractor Authority on…

State System • Uncategorized

Costs vs. benefits still unknown for the latest delta tunnel alignment, released Wednesday

July 27, 2022

• by Lois Henry

Kern County water managers are, for the most part, sticking with the proposed Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta tunnel but are keeping an eye on details still to come – how it will actually operate and how much the water will cost. The Department of Water Resources released a draft environmental impact report on the latest iteration…

Drought • Rivers

State board’s curtailment order could have long-reaching effects

August 10, 2021

• by Lois Henry

The real test of the state’s recently passed ban on the use of water from most of the state’s rivers won’t be later this summer when the ban will likely to go into effect, it will be the upcoming water year. And possibly longer term. This irrigation season is nearly over. But growers and water…

Drought

Thousands of water rights holders could be cut off from rivers

July 24, 2021

• by Lois Henry

California water regulators are preparing to do what they’ve been warning about for months – cut the spigot to thousands of water rights holders. The state Water Resources Control Board will consider an emergency order at its August 3 meeting that would bar farmers, cities and others from continuing to tap into rivers that feed…

Drought • Groundwater

Collaboration is the new game in California water

March 5, 2020

• by Lois Henry

If agriculture in the valley is going to survive, water leaders need to get cozy with new ideas and new allies. And, yes, that means environmentalists. “Historically, water supplies have been developed in a vacuum,” said Eric Averett, General Manager of Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District, at the Water Association of Kern County’s annual day…

Federal System • Personalities • Rivers

Modesto farmer Bill Lyons resigns as Governor’s ag liaison

February 25, 2020

• by Lois Henry

Bill Lyons resigned his post as agricultural liaison to Gov. Gavin Newsom effective immediately, according to an email from the Governor’s office Monday afternoon. Lyons, a long time Modesto farmer, was touted as being the “voice of the valley” in the Newsom administration when he was appointed to the unique post almost exactly one year…

Conservation • Drinking Water • Federal System • Personalities

With Trump comes a lot of speculation

February 20, 2020

• by Lois Henry

Will President Donald Trump give his signatory flourish to the new controversial federal plan for operations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta when he visits Bakersfield on Wednesday? Will he announce full funding to fix the sagging Friant-Kern Canal? Or will he do a 180 and announce some entirely new policy on oil extraction or endangered…