Water Supply
From: Peter Fimrite, San
Francisco Chronicle
There was a time not long ago
when much of civilized society considered each drop of river water that reached
the ocean a wasted resource.
That was before environmentalists
pointed out the benefits of the outflow to fish, wildlife and the ocean
ecosystem, setting off an ongoing tug-of-war between fishermen and farmers in
California that has reached a critical stage this year as the state struggles
through a drought.
From: Lauren Sommer, KQED
With California's reservoirs
running low, many Central Valley farmers are struggling to keep their trees and
crops alive this year. In the southern San Joaquin Valley, some are getting
extra water from an unlikely source: the oil industry. California is the third
largest oil-producing state in the country, extracting roughly 200 million
barrels a year. But in the process of getting oil, companies also produce
massive volumes of water, found naturally in the same underground formations.
"To produce one barrel of
oil, we produce about nine barrels of water," says Chevron's Thep Smith,
walking around the company's Kern River oil field, east of Bakersfield. Almost
10,000 pump jacks cover the hills. The field is more than a century old, but is
still the second-most productive in the state.
From: John Holland, Modesto
Bee
The Modesto and Turlock
irrigation districts could take another step Tuesday morning toward a new
federal license for Don Pedro Reservoir.
Their boards, meeting separately
at the same time, will consider filing a final application with the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission. The document would include public comment and
other information received since they filed a draft application in November.
Water Bond
From: Staff, San Francisco
Chronicle
California's drought has set off
a frenzy in Sacramento and Washington to see who can pass legislation to gain
political leverage and maybe do something to address the state's water
problems. Will legislators offer a plan, as they should, that promotes more
efficient water use and reuse? Or will they merely continue the battles over
supply? Battles apparently are preferred. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has
fast-tracked a bill in the Senate that lifts environmental protections to
maximize water deliveries to the Central Valley.
In the House, several of
California's delegates have proposed building or expanding dams. Each project
would cost billions of federal and state dollars, take years to build and
presupposes nature will provide enough rain to fill the reservoirs, despite
predictions the climate is becoming drier. The federal government hasn't
authorized spending on dam building for years and is unlikely to do so now.
Bay Delta
Conservation Plan
From: Nancy Vogel, Chico
Enterprise-Record
Regarding the editorial about the proposed Sites Reservoir: The
Bay-Delta Conservation Plan is not meant to replace necessary storage projects.
Rather, it is the most comprehensive and cost-effective effort to date to
protect California's water supplies against regulatory and seismic risk. At
$14.5 billion over a 50-year period, the water facilities would not deliver
more water, but simply move water more effectively.
From: Peter Jacobsen,
Sacramento Bee
Re "Water Projects have many cost questions"
(Editorial, March 30): Thanks for your Sunday editorial. Who pays is key. If
the water exporters had to pay for tunnels and reservoirs, they would not
support them.
I encourage you to discuss costs
with the most on-the-hook water agency: Kern County. Since they are part of the
State Water Project, they will have to pay the construction costs. Assistant
General Manager Brent Walthall is in Sacramento, but he can be a little slick.
You might try the general manager or some of their board members. You will find
very tepid interest in the tunnels.
Fisheries
From: Mark Grossi, Fresno Bee
In the shallow, gently flowing
San Joaquin River, three tiny chinook salmon swim into a trap that saves their
lives.
Federal biologists Don Portz and
Charles Hueth wade across river cobble at Scout Island to fetch the trio and
carefully move them into a tank of water for a truck ride more than 100 miles
downstream. Over the last few weeks, the biologists have trucked nearly 900
young fall-run salmon to where the Merced River empties into the San Joaquin
and reconnects this long river to the Pacific Ocean.
Groundwater
From: Tom Knudson, Sacramento
Bee
Flat as a tabletop, the furrowed,
brown farm fields east of this San Joaquin Valley town are some of the most
productive on Earth.
Every spring, they are planted
with a smorgasbord of crops that in one form or another are trucked to grocery
stores across America, from fresh juicy tomatoes to freeze-dried onion flakes,
honeydew melons to tortilla chips.
Now that bounty is threatened by
a crisis of geological proportions: The land is sinking - crippling the
region's irrigation and flood control infrastructure and damaging aquifers that
are buffers against climate change.
From: Jerry Meral, Sacramento
Bee
While more visible water
conflicts rage in California, such as calls for new dams throughout the Central
Valley and disputes over the need for water to save endangered fish, a
lesser-known water crisis threatens the viability of much of California's agriculture,
and even the water supply of some Central Valley cities. That crisis is
over-reliance on water from wells: groundwater overdraft.
Farming News
From: Reed Fujii, Stockton
Record
While the skies threatened heavy
rains last week, discussions at a USDA research facility here largely focused
on what farmers can do to deal with California's generally arid climate, made
worse by the current drought.
For example, cover crop and
tillage studies at the National Resource Conservation Service Plant Materials
Center examine ways to boost the organic content of soil, center manager
Margaret Smither-Kopperl said.
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