Tag: San Joaquin Valley
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Benefits of Groundwater Recharge Demonstrated in Lodi Vineyards
Costa Vineyards in Lodi is successfully using groundwater recharge in this 14-acre Zinfandel block. Photo: Ted Rieger Groundwater is a major source of irrigation water for California agriculture and is increasingly being managed and regulated to address the overdrafting of aquifers in many of the state’s groundwater basins. The ability to capture and store water…
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California’s Looming Water Pollution Problem, Produced Water
Tom Frantz on his almond grove in Shafter, California. (Photo: Jonas Jungblut) In California’s Central Valley, the oil industry has been dumping wastewater into unlined—and under-regulated—ponds, threatening the state’s limited groundwater and the humans who rely on it. In the winter of 2001, Tom Frantz and a friend were cruising in his pick-up truck along…
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The Unanticipated Benefits of California’s Water Policies
Water drips from a leaking irrigation pipe in the west San Joaquin Valley. Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images From software to robots to technology originally designed to detect water on Mars, market-based policy approaches are spurring innovation, writes Ceres’ Kirsten James. Just as California’s climate policies have driven innovation in energy…
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California Groundwater Law Means Big Changes Above Ground, Too
The state’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act is likely to result in fallowing thousands of acres of farmland. Local governments are just waking up to the big opportunities, and risks, in how that land gets reused. New housing construction in California’s San Joaquin Valley poses a threat to some of the best groundwater recharge lands. California’s…
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The Valley floor is sinking, and it’s crippling California’s ability to deliver water
Completed during Harry Truman’s presidency, the Friant-Kern Canal has been a workhorse in California’s elaborate man-made water-delivery network. It’s a low-tech concrete marvel that operates purely on gravity, capable of efficiently piping billions of gallons of water to cities and farms on a 152-mile journey along the east side of the fertile San Joaquin Valley.…
