Local and Global Agricultural Water Usage

12/05/2020

California Groundwater Law
Adopted in 2014
The need to end the overdraft would also turn the use of ground, a major side effect that has yet to be widely understood. Farms would have to fallow in some areas to minimize the need for groundwater. There will be plenty of substantial new uses for the idled farmland. Some may become wildlife areas or recharge basins for groundwater. Others may be useful for the production of solar energy and other semi-industrial uses. Undoubtedly, some would become subdivisions for housing. Based on the California Cooperative Snow Survey, dry years are those graded in the Sacramento Valley as critical or dry. Groundwater use supervision has been limited. Groundwater use has been largely unregulated under California law until recently, in comparison to surface water. As a consequence of the new legislation, hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland are likely to go unused.

11/14/2020

Out of the 57.2 billion gallons of groundwater used per day in the U.S. for agriculture, California is accounted for 13 billion of those gallons per day. For the majority of other parts of the country, water removed from the ground is continuously replaced, even if at a slower rate. If the groundwater that is being pumped exceeds the speed that it's being replenished, it can result in serious environmental consequences. Adequate time is necessary in order to allow replenishment of underlying groundwater reservoirs aka "aquifers"; also such areas must be properly managed in order to prevent water-soluble chemicals stored in these areas from infiltrating and polluting the underground supply.

The following 3.5 minute video discusses some of the consequences we have experienced environmentally and economically here in the Central Valley:

California's water emergency is creating a new crisis in one of the world's most important farm regions, the San Joaquin Valley. As farmers pump groundwater ...

11/14/2020

This week we will be discussing groundwater and its implications.

As precipitation falls, rainwater soaks trough the different layers of soil moving downward towards the water table; which is the water level of groundwater. Groundwater isn't located under streams, lakes, or veins, like one might believe, instead it is located in soils and sands that have the ability to retain the water like a sponge. Groundwater contains 30.1% earth's freshwater, while rivers and lakes contain only 1.2% . "Hydrologists estimate, according to the National Geographic Society, U.S. groundwater reserves to be at least 33,000 trillion gallons — equal to the amount discharged into the Gulf of Mexico by the Mississippi River in the past 200 years." The United States uses 82.3 billion gallons per day of fresh groundwater for public supply, private supply, irrigation, livestock, manufacturing, mining, thermoelectric power, and other purposes. Out of those 82.3 billion gallons, 57.2 billion gallons of groundwater are used daily for agricultural irrigation.

11/07/2020

Hello everyone, this week we will be taking about the salinity in water used for irrigated agriculture. When it comes to salinity in water that is used for irrigated agriculture there is a process that occurs and that is when as the water is used for irrigation is salty, and the crops are affected by it.It can be toxic for certain crops because the amount of sodium is so high in the water that they are intaking. Something else that can contribute to this is the amount of clay in the dirt or how much it can absobe. For example in the San Joaquin Valley the dirt there is very salty and this is because it is full of clay which then makes the ground less absorbent. With that being said when the water evaporates from the surface, all that is left on the land is the salt that was contained within the water. Now just leaving the salt on the ground gets absolves by the many crops that are growing in the San Joaquin Valley, since it is very agriculture based.

10/31/2020

This week we're going to talk about water management policies and to start it off we're going to talk about antidegradation policy.

Antidegradation Policy
This was adopted on October 28, 1968, in California to avoid surface water and groundwater pollution. The policy states that whenever the actual water quality is better than the quality defined in the policies as of the effective date of such policies, the existing high quality will be retained until it has been demonstrated to the State that any adjustment will be compatible with the greatest benefit to the citizens of the State and will not unreasonably affect the current and anticipated beneficial usage of such water. It also states that any operation which produces or is capable of producing waste or an increased volume or concentration of waste and which discharges or is intended to discharge into existing high-quality waters shall be required to comply with the criteria for the discharge of waste that will result in the best possible treatment or regulation of the discharge necessary to ensure that (a) no contamination or disturbance occurs and (b) maximum waters are not impaired. This is the best possible treatment or control of discharges into high-quality waters is also required by the Antidegradation Policy to ensure that contamination or nuisance will not occur and that the highest water quality will be maintained consistent with the maximum benefit to the citizens of the state.
This state policy restricts discharges that would destroy current high-quality waters described as better-quality waters than the objective water quality identified. In any particular river or other body of water controlled by antidegradation rules, California will be forbidden from lowering water quality requirements if the move could affect indigenous fish species or remove fish designated use. The state has moved to apply this policy to programs for water quality that controls groundwater discharges (e.g. irrigated agriculture and dairy farming). Some environmental and other interest groups are trying to use this legislation to legally stop or hinder general agricultural permitting programs intended to promote the introduction of best management and monitoring practices on a watershed or representative scale.
This is important to know in order to understand water management.

10/24/2020

This week we went over the Hydraulic Era, and came to an end with a summary of the history in water management in California. We reviewed some of the largest water projects in California, and some of the benefits and consequences of dams. Within the following weeks we will be taking a closer approach on how the states water management policies have affected agriculture and the community.

See you guys next Friday!

10/24/2020

End of Hydraulic Era- State water project explained:

State water resource control board investigated water usage in 1945, and it showed 40% CA water going out to the Pacific and going unused. Therefore, they decided on a state water management project which has become one of the largest public water and power sources. It provides drinking water for more than 23 million people and generates an average of 6,500 GWh of hydroelectric power annually. It includes a large dam on Feather river that provides flood control for Sacramento, and water for the Bay. The Feather river lower water, Yuma river, and Bear river water flowed into the Sac river and Delta, giving Sacramento and the Bay some water. The rest is pumped from S Delta into the CA aqueduct. 30% of the CA aqueduct supplies water to farms West of San Joaquin and Tulare basin along with E & S SF Bay. The rest of the water is balanced then pumped 3 thousand ft up and over the Tehachapi mountains for S CA. Dams in N coast rivers and canals allow water from the Sacramento basin to bypass the Delta and flow S Delta pumps. Although initially opposed by Sacramento and other Northern voters, fearing water would be contracted to South CA; the support from Yuba and Butte county who got flooded frequently, along with all South California allowed the legislature to pass with the Burns-Porter Act which set to finance and build the nation's largest state-built water and power distribution systems.

The following picture shows the California Aqueduct, a key part of the state water project which begins at the Delta Pumping Plant and parallels Interstate 5 south to the three thousand foot rise of the Tehachapi Mountains.

10/24/2020

The image below shows the Hetch Hetchy Valley prior to 1913 vs how it looks now as the Hetch Hetchy Resavoir. Here's some back story:

As the SF Bay area population continued to increase, it turned to the Sierra Nevada for its water source. The SF city chief engineer proposed a dam for water storage in the Hetch Hetchy Valley which would accumulate water from the Sierra Nevada run-off through the Tuolumne river. The dam was to provide hydroelectric power and a good source of water quality to supply the E Bay and the peninsula cities by gravity. Once John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club found out of the plan to put a large dam in California's largest national park he was quick to put up a fight. His opposition delayed the project for 10 years, but eventually the Raker Act permitted the building of the O’Shaughnessy dam and the flooding of the Hetch Hetchy Valley. This environmental loss led to the beginning of a strong movement that has continued to grow to this day.

10/18/2020

Central Valley Project explained

10/17/2020

Central Valley Project explained

10/17/2020

10/17/2020

Time Era: The Hydraulic Era
Continuing from last week when we talked a little vaguely about the Hydraulic Era even though it is such an important part of history, it deserves much more recognition. When you hear the term Hydraulic Era what do you think about? For myself personally when I hear the term hydraulic era, it sounds like a term that we would use when there is a boom in water industry and its uses. Within the Hydraulic Era many things occurred but the main points being that the growth in water demands and agriculture because they had the water that they needed. At the beginning of the 20th century this is when California grew economically and and population wise as well. Population growth is very important especially because it was lead by the Hydraulic Era. The Hydraulic Era and agriculture go hand in hand because the water laws.