As the single largest water-consuming industry, agriculture has
become a focal point for efforts to promote water conservation.
The drive for water use efficiency has become institutionalized
in agriculture through numerous federal, state and local
programs. Since the 1980s, some water districts serving
agricultural areas have developed extensive water conservation
programs to help their customers (From Aquapedia).
The future availability of irrigation water for California
growers has never been less certain. To help growers survive a
future of “water uncertainty,” the non-profit Soil Health
Academy today announced an on-farm school at the Burroughs
Family almond orchard April 30-May 2 in Denair, California,
that will offer agricultural producers principles and tools to
grow profits and resiliency with much less water. The
school, sponsored by Simple Mills, will feature instruction,
demonstrations and insights from world-renowned soil health
pioneers Gabe Brown, Allen Williams, Ph.D., along with Chuck
Schembre and other orchard, vineyard and vegetable production
experts.
To adapt to climate extremes and become more water resilient in
California, modernizing the state’s water data—including the
way it is collected, stored, shared and used—may lead to more
informed decisions. Improving data practices to best manage
California’s water resources helped drive discussions last week
as state and local water managers, farmers, environmentalists
and others gathered in Sacramento for the 62nd annual
California Irrigation Institute Conference. … With a
theme of “Fluid Futures: Adapting to Extremes,” the Feb. 26-27
event focused on leveraging information and data technology to
help with water-management decisions. Erin Urquhart, water
resources program manager for the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration, offered insights on the benefits of
Earth-observing missions that gather water data from space.
The California Water Resources Control Board said it still
needs more than 40% of the required water usage reports that
were due at the beginning of the month.
The University of California, Berkeley (UCB) recently published
a scientific brief in February regarding illegal water use for
cannabis plants. Entitled “Water Use: Cannabis in Context,” the
brief was conducted by individuals at the Berkeley Cannabis
Research Center, which is part of the College of Environmental
Science Policy & Management. The Cannabis Research Center has
been reviewing cannabis water use since 2017, and the most
recent brief is split into four sections posed with a question.
First, “How much water does cannabis use relative to stream
flow?” explains that cannabis water use in regions along the
Northern California coast and semi-inland areas (primarily
Humboldt and Mendocino County) represents a “small fraction” of
surface water supplies year-round, and especially during the
months of July, August, and September.
Danielle Veenstra is an almond grower as well as the senior
manager for reputation management and sustainability
communications for the Almond Board of California. She comments
on how the production of almonds uses much less water than you
think.
As the world looks for sustainable solutions, a system tapping
into NASA satellite data for water management has passed a
critical test. Called OpenET, the system uses an ensemble
of six satellite-driven models that harness publicly available
data from the Landsat program to calculate evapotranspiration
(ET)—the movement of water vapor from soil and plant leaves
into the atmosphere. OpenET does this on a field-level scale
that is greatly improving the way farmers, ranchers, and water
resource managers steward one of Earth’s most precious
resources. Researchers have now conducted a large-scale
analysis of how well OpenET is tracking evapotranspiration over
crops and natural landscapes. The team compared OpenET data
with measurements from 152 sites with ground-based instruments
across the United States. In agricultural areas, OpenET
calculated evapotranspiration with high accuracy, especially
for annual crops such as wheat, corn, soy, and rice.
It was exactly the sort of deluge
California groundwater agencies have been counting on to
replenish their overworked aquifers.
The start of 2023 brought a parade of torrential Pacific storms
to bone dry California. Snow piled up across the Sierra Nevada at
a near-record pace while runoff from the foothills gushed into
the Central Valley, swelling rivers over their banks and filling
seasonal creeks for the first time in half a decade.
Suddenly, water managers and farmers toiling in one of the
state’s most groundwater-depleted regions had an opportunity to
capture stormwater and bank it underground. Enterprising agencies
diverted water from rushing rivers and creeks into manmade
recharge basins or intentionally flooded orchards and farmland.
Others snagged temporary permits from the state to pull from
streams they ordinarily couldn’t touch.
Across a sprawling corner of southern Tulare County snug against the Sierra Nevada, a bounty of navel oranges, grapes, pistachios, hay and other crops sprout from the loam and clay of the San Joaquin Valley. Groundwater helps keep these orchards, vineyards and fields vibrant and supports a multibillion-dollar agricultural economy across the valley. But that bounty has come at a price. Overpumping of groundwater has depleted aquifers, dried up household wells and degraded ecosystems.
Innovative efforts to accelerate
restoration of headwater forests and to improve a river for the
benefit of both farmers and fish. Hard-earned lessons for water
agencies from a string of devastating California wildfires.
Efforts to drought-proof a chronically water-short region of
California. And a broad debate surrounding how best to address
persistent challenges facing the Colorado River.
These were among the issues Western Water explored in
2019, and are still worth taking a look at in case you missed
them.
Groundwater helped make Kern County
the king of California agricultural production, with a $7 billion
annual array of crops that help feed the nation. That success has
come at a price, however. Decades of unchecked groundwater
pumping in the county and elsewhere across the state have left
some aquifers severely depleted. Now, the county’s water managers
have less than a year left to devise a plan that manages and
protects groundwater for the long term, yet ensures that Kern
County’s economy can continue to thrive, even with less water.
As California embarks on its unprecedented mission to harness groundwater pumping, the Arizona desert may provide one guide that local managers can look to as they seek to arrest years of overdraft.
Groundwater is stressed by a demand that often outpaces natural and artificial recharge. In California, awareness of groundwater’s importance resulted in the landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act in 2014 that aims to have the most severely depleted basins in a state of balance in about 20 years.
The message is oft-repeated that
water must be conserved and used as wisely as possible.
The California Water Code calls water use efficiency “the
efficient management of water resources for beneficial uses,
preventing waste, or accomplishing additional benefits with the
same amount of water.”
This printed issue of Western Water examines
agricultural water use – its successes, the planned state
regulation to quantify its efficiency and the potential for
greater savings.
30-minute DVD that traces the history of the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and its role in the development of the West. Includes
extensive historic footage of farming and the construction of
dams and other water projects, and discusses historic and modern
day issues.
There are two constants regarding agricultural water use –
growers will continue to come up with ever more efficient and
innovative ways to use water and they will always be pressed to
do more.
It’s safe to say the matter will not be settled anytime soon,
given all the complexities that are a part of the water use
picture today. While officials and stakeholders grapple to find a
lasting solution to California’s water problems that balances
environmental and economic needs, those who grow food and fiber
for a living do so amid a host of challenges.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, features
a map of the San Joaquin River. The map text focuses on the San
Joaquin River Restoration Program, which aims to restore flows
and populations of Chinook salmon to the river below Friant Dam
to its confluence with the Merced River. The text discusses the
history of the program, its goals and ongoing challenges with
implementation.
As the single largest water-consuming industry, agriculture has
become a focal point for efforts to promote water conservation.
In turn, discussions about agricultural water use often become
polarized.
With this in mind, the drive for water use
efficiency has become institutionalized in agriculture
through numerous federal, state and local programs.