San Joaquin River

"Incomplete” Determination of the 2020 Groundwater Sustainability Plans Submitted for the San Joaquin Valley – Madera Subbasin

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | September 22nd, 2022

The Department of Water Resources (Department) has evaluated the four groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs) submitted for the San Joaquin Valley – Madera Subbasin (Su

The Department of Water Resources (Department) has evaluated the four groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs) submitted for the San Joaquin Valley – Madera Subbasin (Subbasin), as well as the materials considered to be part of the required coordination agreement. Collectively, the four GSPs and the coordination agreement are referred to as the Plan for the Subbasin. The Department has determined that the Plan is “incomplete” pursuant to Section 355.2(e)(2) of the GSP Regulations. The Department based its incomplete determination on recommendations from the Staff Report, included as an enclosure to the attached Statement of Findings, which describes that the Subbasin’s Plan does not satisfy the objectives of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) nor substantially comply with the GSP Regulations. The Staff Report also provides corrective actions which the Department recommends the Subbasin’s 7 groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) review while determining how and whether to address the deficiencies in a coordinated manner. The Subbasin’s GSAs have 180 days, the maximum allowed by the GSP Regulations, to address the identified deficiencies. Where addressing the deficiencies requires modification of the Plan, the GSAs must adopt those modifications into their respective GSPs and all applicable coordination agreement materials, or otherwise demonstrate that those modifications are part of the Plan before resubmitting it to the Department for evaluation no later than March 21, 2023.

"Should the Peripheral Canal be Built?"

Commonwealth Club of California | July 1st, 1975

"Water, Water, Everywhere"

Scientific American | April 1st, 1942

FROM sky-scraping Shasta Dam on the north to Bakersfield on the south, beneficiary of water to be carried by canals stretching like tentacles up and down California'

FROM sky-scraping Shasta Dam on the north to Bakersfield on the south, beneficiary of water to be carried by canals stretching like tentacles up and down California's great Central Valley a total distance of 898 miles, it's a case of "Water, water, everywhere." The United States Bureau of Reclamation looks upon the Central Valley Project as holding greater potential benefit, both locally and nationally, than any conservation project attempted in its 88-year history . This undertaking is a multiple-purpose project, involving construction of two huge dams, Shasta and Friant, and five canals, which jointly will: Improve navigation on inland waterways, reduce floods in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River valleys, furnish water to irrigate 2 ,000,000 acres of highly productive agricultural lands, control saltwater encroachment in the delta region of the two rivers mentioned, improve domestic and industrial water supplies in central California, and develop hydro-electric power for municipal, agricultural, industrial, and project uses.

“Good Luck Fixing the Problem”: Small Low-Income Community Participation in Collaborative Groundwater Governance and Implications for Drinking Water Source Protection

Society and Natural Resources (Routledge) | June 10th, 2020

There is increasing interest in the potential of source water protection to address chronic challenges with small systems and rural drinking water provision. Such a plann

There is increasing interest in the potential of source water protection to address chronic challenges with small systems and rural drinking water provision. Such a planning and management approach to increasing safe drinking water access, however, will likely require leveraging multi-stakeholder collaborative governance venues to this effect. This paper investigates the prospects of doing so using the case of California’s groundwater reform process known as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act or SGMA. Interviews with drinking water stakeholders from small low-income communities in the San Joaquin Valley show how existing power and resource disparities limit the prospects of integrating rural drinking water priorities into regional planning. Long-term, more fundamental changes will be needed to meaningfully transform water management in this direction. Short-term state intervention is needed to protect equity and public good goals, raising potential contradictions between devolved water management and improved drinking water access that need to be addressed.

“Where Have All The Fish Gone? Interactive Factors Producing Fish Declines in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) | June 19th, 1994

100 years of California's water rights system: patterns, trends and uncertainty

Environmental Research Letters (IOP) | August 19th, 2014

For 100 years, California’s State Water Resources Control Board and its predecessors have been responsible for allocating available water supplies to beneficial uses,

For 100 years, California’s State Water Resources Control Board and its predecessors have been responsible for allocating available water supplies to beneficial uses, but inaccurate and incomplete accounting of water rights has made the state ill-equipped to satisfy growing societal demands for water supply reliability and healthy ecosystems. Here, we present the first comprehensive evaluation of appropriative water rights to identify where, and to what extent, water has been dedicated to human uses relative to natural supplies. The results show that water right allocations total 400 billion cubic meters, approximately five times the state’s mean annual runoff. In the state’s major river basins, water rights account for up to 1000% of natural surface water supplies, with the greatest degree of appropriation observed in tributaries to the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers and in coastal streams in southern California. Comparisons with water supplies and estimates of actual use indicate substantial uncertainty in how water rights are exercised. In arid regions such as California, over-allocation of surface water coupled with trends of decreasing supply suggest that new water demands will be met by re-allocation from existing uses. Without improvements to the water rights system, growing human and environmental demands portend an intensification of regional water scarcity and social conflict. California’s legal framework for managing its water resources is largely compatible with needed reforms, but additional public investment is required to enhance the capacity of the state’s water management institutions to effectively track and regulate water rights.

2-Gates Fish Protection Demonstration Project

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) | July 16th, 2009

The 2-Gates Project proposes an alternative management strategy to achieve protection of the delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus). The Central Valley Project (CVP) and

The 2-Gates Project proposes an alternative management strategy to achieve protection of the delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus). The Central Valley Project (CVP) and State Water Project (SWP) operate under the OCAP and other water rights and water quality requirements (project background provided in Appendix A). These operations comply with the RPAs in the recent BOs for the OCAP from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS 2008) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS 2009). The RPAs include actions to limit reverse flows in Old and Middle Rivers to reduce entrainment of fish at the CVP and SWP export facilities. The Project seeks to provide equal or improved protection to delta smelt (reduced entrainment at the export pumps) with higher than the minimum allowed water exports described in the OCAP BORPAs while operating within the other water management requirement (D-1641). In particular, the Project is intended to demonstrate that operable barriers, strategically placed in the central Delta and managed in conjunction with some restrictions on OMR negative flows, can provide equal or greater protection for delta smelt than restrictions on OMR negative flows alone. The proposed 2-Gates Project is designed as a demonstration project to test this premise and to improve understanding of the key physical and biological processes needed to restore a sustainable ecosystem. The 2-Gates Project proposes to install and operate temporary, removable gates in two channels in the central Delta at Old River and Connection Slough (Figure 1). The gates will be used to manipulate flows and key water quality components of delta smelt habitat in order to reduce entrainment of delta smelt at the export facilities.

2014 Technical Memorandum Regarding the Accounting of San Joaquin River Spring-run Chinook Salmon at the Central Valley Project and State Water Project Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Fish Collection Facilities

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) | January 15th, 2014

2015 Technical Memorandum Regarding the Accounting of San Joaquin River Spring-run Chinook Salmon at the Central Valley Project and State Water Project Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Fish Collection Facilities

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) | January 15th, 2015

2015 Urban Water Management Plan

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) | June 1st, 2016

Metropolitan’s 2015 Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP) has been prepared in compliance with Water Code Section 10608.36 of SB X7-7, which was enacted in 2009, a

Metropolitan’s 2015 Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP) has been prepared in compliance with Water Code Section 10608.36 of SB X7-7, which was enacted in 2009, and Sections 10610 through 10656 of the Urban Water Management Planning Act (Act), which were added by Statute 1983, Chapter 1009, and became effective on January 1, 1984. This Act requires that every urban water supplier providing water for municipal purposes to more than 3,000 customers or supplying more than 3,000 acre-feet of water annually prepare and adopt, in accordance with prescribed requirements, an urban water management plan. The Act requires urban water suppliers to describe and evaluate sources of water supply, efficient uses of water, demand management measures, implementation strategy and schedule, and other relevant information and programs. Urban water suppliers are required by the Act to update their UWMP and submit a complete plan to the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) every five years. An UWMP is required in order for a water supplier to be eligible for DWR administered state grants and loans and drought assistance. As with Metropolitan’s previous plans, the 2015 UWMP does not explicitly discuss specific activities undertaken by its member agencies unless they relate to one of Metropolitan’s water demand or supply management programs. Presumably, each member agency will discuss these activities in its UWMP. The information included in the 2015 UWMP represents the most current and available planning projections of supply capability and demand developed through a collaborative process with the member agencies. Metropolitan’s Board recently adopted the 2015 Integrated Water Resources Plan, Water Tomorrow (2015 IRP Update), which represents Metropolitan’s comprehensive planning process and will serve as Metropolitan’s blueprint for long-term water reliability, including key supply development and water use efficiency goals.