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Water is at the heart of the Central Valley's daily life, and the southern part of that, the San Joaquin Valley, is always desperately looking for water. In the middle of the century, the SJ Valley received a bunch of water from the feds and a few state water projects. That allowed the groundwater to work its way back, but the last 45 years have been bad as the water projects have gradually drawn water away from the agricultural purposes and to fishing and urban water priorities.
The result was a process of tapping ground water, leaving the Valley to slowly sink. And since 1961, the results have been quite severe:
California's San Joaquin Valley has lost 60 million acre-feet of groundwater since 1961, according to a new federal study. That's enough water for 60 Folsom reservoirs.
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According to the study, groundwater pumping continues to cause the valley floor to sink, a problem known as subsidence. This threatens the stability of surface structures such as the California Aqueduct, which delivers drinking water to more than 20 million people.
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One consequence has been land subsidence over vast areas of the San Joaquin Valley. The most severe drop is about 29 feet near Mendota, which occurred before the canals were built, said Al Steele, an engineering geologist at the state Department of Water Resources in Fresno. (SacBee 7/13/09)
Of course, if the Aqueduct goes, at least the South of the state will begin to pay a lot more attention to the issue. Much of the water for SoCal comes directly through the Aqueduct.
Our use of resources over the last half century has left in a very poor position to deal with our current drought. Unless we get some rain or come up with some solutions, the future of farming, and of life in general, in the Central Valley looks increasingly bleak. |
