By John Lindt
San Joaquin Valley - Friant water districts up and down the eastside of the Valley are now staring at a three quarter supply of firm Class I federal water after a series of “unusual” weather events resulted in a brim-full Millerton Lake over the past month.
The
Bureau of Reclamation recently cut its estimate for Friant districts this
summer because the lake behind Friant Dam filled up earlier than expected
and that resulted in water being released downstream.
“That hot weather in early May sped up the snow melt this year,” says Friant General Manager Ron Jacobsma. “The lack of storage capacity at Millerton forced us to either spill the water that would have been lost to us or send some to water districts as Class II water – water that comes before ag users need it and is mostly sunk in the ground for future use.
Besides the warm temps in May, Edison operations appear to be affecting the supply as well this year. Edison controls many of the small lakes above Millerton that feed the San Joaquin River.
“It's not all bad news,” says Jacobsma in that earlier this winter, “we feared we would receive as little as 15 percent of Class 1 water.” Improved northern California precipitation helped boost estimates that the district would get all of its Class 1 water supply this season. But the small size of the dam and continuing late spring storms meant “the river just keeps coming,” adding more runoff that needed to be juggled.
The bureau's current estimate is that the districts – that extend from Madera to Kern counties – will get 77 percent of Class I water and 15 percent of Class II. While the Class II water is welcome, some contractors who get Class I water only, like a number of the communities – Orange Cove, Lindsay and Terra Bella –will be looking at a one quarter cut in their expected supply. Jacobsma says the bureau is expected to begin Class I deliveries this week, depending on the weather. Farmers have not needed a big pulse as of this week because of unseasonably cool weather.
Because it's only an estimate, Jacobsma says there is still a chance they could see more water as the season moves on. Friant has been seeking a larger dam to help manage supply as well as provide water for the river restoration effort that will begin this fall. Friant Dam can hold just 525,000 acre feet of water while next-door neighbor Pine Flat – handling the runoff from the same size watershed – holds a million acre feet.
Friant has concerns that warm winters could become the new norm under global warming scenarios and could follow this year's pattern – sending water down the mountain earlier than farmers can use it – an argument for a dam like Temperance Flat.
Ground Water Drops 50 Ft
Friant contractor Lower Tule and Pixley Irrigation District Manager Dan Vink says they were the beneficiary of some of that Class II water. “We took 55,000 acre feet” – water that can be pumped out of the ground later. Pumping it out of ground is still considered second best to getting the water just when you need it to irrigate fruit and other summer crops. Of course, pumping requires power.
Vink says his southern Tulare County
water district desperately needs the surface water, having watched its
groundwater levels drop 50 feet in the past five years.
On the Tule River, Vink and his farmers got some good news recently when
the Corps of Engineers allowed Success Dam to be filled to the 50 percent
level (41,000 acre feet) this spring after a judgment was made that it
would not be dangerous if an earthquake happened. He says they were able
to make some small irrigation runs from Tule water to area farms recently.
Vink says this decision to allow more storage was made after the Corps had time to rethink its earlier estimate “with a more sophisticated model” that will be used over the next few years as they do a major rebuild of the dam. He says the Corps will be buying some land for the retrofit starting this fall.
Vink says water districts need a statewide solution to our water crisis that includes a new water bond and blames the Legislature for a lack of leadership in this and budget issues. “They look like daycare without adult supervision.”
Regarding the so-called biological opinion recently offered by the marine fisheries – the impact remains uncertain, says water engineer Dennis Keller who calls the whole mess a a “can of worms.” The fishery agency did no EIR on its opinion, delivering it to a judge who just recently required a federal agency to consider human impacts of such decisions as well as the impacts on fish.
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of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit
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