Dr. Vance Kennedy is a long time champion of farmers and farmland. Along with Wood Colony’s Jake Wenger and Modesto’s Denny Jackman, Dr. Kennedy is sponsoring an urban limits initiative that would protect prime farmland around Modesto. Like many Valley citizens, Dr. Kennedy is alarmed at intensive groundwater mining in the foothills of eastern Stanislaus County. His background as an award-winning hydrologist enables him to offer authoritative analysis of the […]
Dr. Kennedy’s Groundwater Fact List
The groundwater crisis in the San Joaquin Valley is especially critical. In Stanislaus County, tens of thousands of acres of new almond orchards have put a tremendous demand on groundwater, causing concern for the future of the aquifer. Many residential wells have run dry, yet thus far county supervisors have failed to take action. On June 28, Stanislaus County Supervisor Terry Withrow was quoted as saying, “We’ve got to stick […]
Highway 132 and History
Legend has it that Ed Mape used to herd cattle from behind the wheel of his Cadillac car. Maybe he spelled Cadillac with two “Ts.” Today, the Mapes Ranch is more famous for its billboard sign reading “Breed the Best and Forget the Rest” than for its former owner, but it’s still a major feature in the unique character of the land along Highway 132. In fact, in the fifteen […]
Why No Outcry Over Mining Groundwater?
Probably the most prevalent myth about groundwater is that we don’t know how much is being pumped. The seal of secrecy goes all the way to the state level with a long practice of concealing well records even from scientific inquiry. But the mystification about how much water is being pumped is nothing more than a shell game. It’s a distraction meant to confuse and silence the public. Among farmers, […]
City of Modesto Drinking Water
Last week, City of Modesto water users received notice that, “water allocation deliveries from MID will be decreased from an average of 30 million gallons to 17 million gallons.” City residents will receive groundwater “to supplement the reduction.” “Customers may notice that the water at their taps contains more minerals than usual,” said the city. What the city didn’t say is that we’ve now joined the mad rush to drain […]
How to Rig the Water Game
Last Wednesday, the Stanislaus Water Advisory Committee (SWAC) finally figured out there’s groundwater on the west side of the county as well as the east. Committee members then realized there’s no representation on the committee from west side farmers. What the committee hasn’t yet realized, and will never want to face, is there is no representation from groundwater users in the city of Modesto*, no representation from fisherman, no representation […]
City Workers Rock the Neighborhood
By the time they showed up, most everyone in the neighborhood had given up on the streets. They were cracked down to the dirt. Cars and trucks routinely turned over asphalt clods, which then became part of the general rubble. Then the water guys came. They replaced the water pipes, which some said were going on seventy years old. No one was surprised—the city has a long history of overlooking […]
Tuolumne River Salmon: Fish in a Barrel?
About the only thing most everyone agrees on about salmon on the Tuolumne River is there aren’t as many as there used to be. Disagreements arise when people try to explain why. While there are some exceptions, most of the disputants fall into one of two groups. The “flow” people argue that dams and consequent reduced flows along rivers during migration have decimated salmon runs. They say that reduced flows […]
Why Property Rights and Groundwater Won’t Wash
Almost anyone who reflects a minute or two can see California groundwater law is based on an absurd assumption. Essentially, the law says groundwater belongs to the owner of the land above it. Once it’s acknowledged that groundwater isn’t distributed along property lines, the law doesn’t make much sense. It makes less sense once it’s understood that groundwater moves from place to place. And it becomes absurd when we realize […]
Supervisors Issue Blank Check to Water Miners
Tuesday, June 10, Stanislaus County Supervisors issued a blank check to water miners. Of those present, only Supervisor Jim DeMartini seemed willing to speak candidly about the process. “This is like squirting water on the outhouse when your house is burning down,” he said. DeMartini was referring to the Stanislaus Water Advisory Committee’s (SWAC) seventeen point “action plan.” To many, the plan seems dedicated to avoiding groundwater problems rather than […]