San Joaquin River

California Groundwater Conditions Update – Spring 2021 California’s drought and groundwater

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | October 3rd, 2022

This report uses maps to depict how groundwater levels have changed over time using two different analytical methods. One method, groundwater level change maps, show the

This report uses maps to depict how groundwater levels have changed over time using two different analytical methods. One method, groundwater level change maps, show the change in groundwater levels between two different springtime measurements. The second method uses trend analysis of water levels for wells having at least 10 annual springtime measurements over a 20-year period to illustrate the statistical magnitude and direction of groundwater level change (a well’s water level increasing or decreasing trend over time). Spring groundwater level data are an important indicator of groundwater conditions because spring generally corresponds to both the pre-irrigation season and the peak groundwater levels in a water year.

California Hydraulic Mining under the Caminetti Act

Scientific American | July 21st, 1900

The gold deposits of California are, for a large part, contained in gravel beds once the channel of rivers which formed the drainage of the west slope of th

The gold deposits of California are, for a large part, contained in gravel beds once the channel of rivers which formed the drainage of the west slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In the course of ages new rivers were formed, leaving the ancient gravel beds elevated often hundreds of feet above the river beds of the present. The depth of the gravel in the old channels is often several hundred feet and the width across them frequently one-half mile, while their courses may be traced for thirty or forty miles in length in detached sections, which are the remnants of once continuous beds. Denudation and the cutting down of the present streams has removed parts of the ancient channels and they often disappear below the surface for several miles underneath coverings of lava which have been spread over them ...  Hydraulic mining became an immense industry. At the time when it had reached its greatest development it was estimated that more than one hundred millions of dollars had been invested in the construction of water supplies, mining plant, tunnels, and flumes, and more than two million dollars have been spent in the equipment of a single mine. Everything was upon an immense scale, and the amounts of gravel removed were in proportion. So large, in fact, that the material washed into the streams caused blockages over spreading agricultural lands in the Sacramento Valley, obstructing and raising the beds of the navigable rivers which enter San Francisco Bay, causing inundations at times of flood, and generally making its influence noticeable 200 miles from the seat of mining. In 1880 it was estimated that in the bed of the Yuba River alone there were stored more than one hundred and forty million cubic yards of accumulations, and the bed of the river had spread over a width of two and one-half miles between the side levees built to confine the spread of the deposits.

California Salmon Strategy for a Hotter, Drier Future: Restoring Aquatic Ecosystems in the Age of Climate Change

California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) | January 20th, 2024

The infrastructure built generations ago in California continues to limit salmon migration, and some dams that remain on the landscape are well beyond their useful life.

The infrastructure built generations ago in California continues to limit salmon migration, and some dams that remain on the landscape are well beyond their useful life. In the Central Valley, large dams were built starting in the early 1900s on almost all major rivers. Those dams now block salmon access to over 90 percent of their historical spawning and rearing habitat higher in mountain streams.

California State Water Project 2006 Watershed Sanitary Survey Update

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | June 20th, 2007

The State Water Project (SWP) provides drinking water to approximately two-thirds of California’s population and is the nation’s largest state-built water development

The State Water Project (SWP) provides drinking water to approximately two-thirds of California’s population and is the nation’s largest state-built water development project. The SWP extends from the mountains of Plumas County in the Feather River watershed to Lake Perris in Riverside County. It is linked with the Central Valley Project (CVP) that extends from southern Oregon in the Sacramento River watershed to the Mendota Pool. The watershed of the SWP is vast; encompassing the 27,000-square-mile Sacramento River and 13,000-square-mile San Joaquin River watersheds and at times, the 13,000-square-mile Tulare Basin watershed. The contaminant sources in the SWP watersheds have been well documented in the three previous sanitary surveys. The California Department of Health Services (CDHS) requested that the 2006 Update address the Jones Tract levee failure and emergency response procedures, efforts to coordinate pathogen monitoring in response to the Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule (LT2ESWTR), and a review of significant changes to the watersheds and their impacts on water quality.   A Technical Review Committee (TRC) was formed to guide development of the scope of work and provide technical expertise and review of the draft report. In addition to addressing the issues raised by CDHS, the TRC determined that the 2006 Update should focus on evaluating the sources of the water quality problems that the SWP Contractors face and recommending actions that the SWP Contractors can take that will lead to improvements in water quality over the next five years. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 2 REGULATORY SETTING CHAPTER 3 WATER QUALITY IN THE WATERSHEDS AND THE STATE WATER PROJECT CHAPTER 4 KEY CONCERNS IN THE CENTRAL VALLEY WATERSHED AND THE DELTA CHAPTER 5 KEY CONCERNS WITH STATE WATER PROJECT FACILITIES CHAPTER 6 INCIDENTS AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE MEASURES CHAPTER 7 CONCERNS WITH SYSTEM OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE

California State Water Project: Past, Present, Future

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | July 1st, 2006

California Sustainable Groundwater Legislation and Dairy Business Impact – California Irrigation Institute - 2017

California Irrigation Institute | January 30th, 2017

I have been asked to discuss my thoughts on the effect of SGMA upon the dairy industry. As the General Manager of Stevinson Water District in Merced County, and from a si

I have been asked to discuss my thoughts on the effect of SGMA upon the dairy industry. As the General Manager of Stevinson Water District in Merced County, and from a six-generation California dairy farming family, I have been quite involved in both in dairy farming, the production of milk and the rapidly changing agricultural water business. Most recently, I have been involved in the development of Groundwater Sustainable Agency in the Merced Basin. My comments are based both from my experiences and from information gathered from CDFA agricultural statistics, House of Representative Devin Nunes presentation to his constituencies in September 2016, and from conversations with civil water engineers in the south San Joaquin Valley. -From California Irrigation Institute 2017 Conference: Managing our Water Checkbook: Solutions for a Balanced Bottomline

California Water Plan 2013: Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Regional Report

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | October 30th, 2014

Some areas of the state with common water issues or interests cross the boundaries from one hydrologic region to another. To acknowledge this, the California Department o

Some areas of the state with common water issues or interests cross the boundaries from one hydrologic region to another. To acknowledge this, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) developed the concept of “overlay areas” and first described overlay areas in California Water Plan Update 2005. The purpose of the overlay areas is to collect and provide information that will better enable planners and decision-makers to address issues in areas of special interest where both of the following criteria apply: (1) the area is of statewide significance — meaning that water management strategies and actions taken in one area affect much of the remainder of the state — and (2) common water management conditions exist in the area — meaning that issues and integrated planning opportunities span more than one of the 10 hydrologic regions. The two overlay areas of special interest are the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) and Mountain Counties.  For Update 2005, the Delta and Suisun Marsh were included as an overlay area because of its common characteristics, environmental significance, and the important role it has in the State’s water systems. The Delta and Suisun Marsh encompasses about 840,000 acres of tidal influenced land near the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers; and occupies portions of the Sacramento, San Joaquin, and San Francisco hydrologic regions. The geographic extent of the Delta overlay coincides with the statutory Delta boundary that defines the Legal Delta (California Water Code [CWC] Section 12220) and the Suisun Marsh as defined in California Public Resources Code Section 29101.

California Water Plan 2013: San Joaquin River Hydrologic Region Report

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | October 30th, 2014

The San Joaquin River Hydrologic Region remains one of the largest agricultural regions in California with irrigated acreage increasing slightly from 2005 to 2009, at the

The San Joaquin River Hydrologic Region remains one of the largest agricultural regions in California with irrigated acreage increasing slightly from 2005 to 2009, at the same time that overall water supplies declined. The 2007-2009 drought caused reduced surface water supplies, leading to increased groundwater pumping. Agricultural groundwater use increased from a little more than 1.6 million acre-feet (maf) in 2005 to more than 3.2 maf in 2009. Nonetheless, agricultural values increased from 2005 to 2008, declined somewhat in 2009, but bounced back in 2010. Furthermore, the urban population continues to grow, gaining 5 percent from 2005 to 2010. While agriculture is a stable economic sector, disadvantaged communities (DACs) still exist in the region, with four of the most populous cities in the region also qualifying as DACs: Stockton, Merced, Lodi, and Madera. To address the issues of lower water supplies and higher demands, as well as attempt to ameliorate water problems for DACs, local stakeholder groups are accelerating their use of resource management strategies via integrated regional water management group efforts.

California Water Plan Update 2018, Supporting Documentation for Water Portfolios

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | April 15th, 2019

California Water Plan Update 2018 (Update 2018) supporting documentation for water portfolios includes descriptions and accountings of water uses and their supplies for t

California Water Plan Update 2018 (Update 2018) supporting documentation for water portfolios includes descriptions and accountings of water uses and their supplies for the state in Figures 1 and 5, and for 10 hydrologic regions in Figures 7 through 16. They include pictures of conditions in California, along with water balance data for Water Years (WYs) 2011–2015. Regional inflow and outflow Figures 17 and 18 provide a geographic overview of California and surface water inflows and outflows with adjoining states, between hydrologic regions, and to the Pacific Ocean, for a wet year between two drought sequences, and a critically dry year in a drought sequence. More extreme and variable hydrology seems to have become the new normal, and not just for California. California has been, and will continue to be, a useful example of extremes brought on by a wide variety of climates and terrains. To better understand these diversities, plan for future needs, and move toward water resources sustainability, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) analyzes water use and supply conditions for each water year at various spatial scales for the entire state. This accounting of water uses and supplies is the only statewide analysis that exists. The California Water Plan (Water Plan) water balance data is used by many in and out of the water community. Data and information requests come from other DWR programs, State and federal agencies, cities and counties, local water agencies and purveyors, research institutes, universities, non-governmental organizations, private sector companies, lawyers, elected officials, news media, documentaries, book writers, students, interested public, other states, and even other countries because California is recognized as a leader in integrated water resources management. The following excerpt is from Update 2018, Chapter 1, “California Water Today,” section on California’s Diverse Water Supplies and Uses.

California Water Plan Update 2023 (Final Version)

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | April 3rd, 2024

Updated every five years, the Water Plan is the State’s strategic plan for sustainably and equitably managing, developing, and stewarding water resources. Required by W

Updated every five years, the Water Plan is the State’s strategic plan for sustainably and equitably managing, developing, and stewarding water resources. Required by Water Code Section 10005, the plan presents the status and trends of California’s water-dependent natural resources; water supplies; and agricultural, urban, and environmental water demands for a range of plausible future scenarios.