• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice
  • Arts
  • Education
  • Environment
  • History
  • Nature
  • Politics
  • Wit
  • About

City of Modesto Drinking Water

June 30, 2014 By Eric Caine 2 Comments

Orchard Around Modesto Reservoir
Orchard Around Modesto Reservoir

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 one of the Valley’s last great aquifers.

The city also didn’t mention that water levels at Modesto Reservoir, which stores water for city residents, have very likely been reduced by heavy pumping for orchards near and around the reservoir.

While entities like the Stanislaus Water Advisory Committee (SWAC) have done their best to cloak east side groundwater use in mystery, there’s nothing mysterious about it.

Some 30,000 acres of pasture land on Stanislaus County’s east side have been converted to permanent crops, mostly almonds. Almonds require three feet of water a year, give or take a few inches. So 30,000 acres require 90,000 acre feet, year after year after year.

Need a mental image? Think of it this way: When full, the capacity of Modesto Reservoir is 29,000 acre feet, about one-third the annual demand for 30,000 acres of almond trees.

In states where groundwater use is regulated, many families use only a quarter of an acre foot of water a year. In northern California, a family of four may use as much as an entire acre foot in a year. So 90,000 acre feet would serve 90,000 families of extravagant water users.

Keep in mind that Modesto Reservoir is unlined. That means there’s seepage. Exactly how much seepage isn’t known, but a good hydrologist could make an estimate based on studies elsewhere. One such study is here.

A good hydrologist could also figure how much seepage is accelerated when thousands of acre feet of water are pulled from under a water source.

Seepage is important if you’re around or near a reservoir and using lots of groundwater. That’s because seepage is most likely your primary source for groundwater recharge. When an orchard sucks three feet of water a year, it doesn’t take long to empty the bucket; after that, refills come from surface water.

The almond orchards on the county’s east side all use drip irrigation; it’s very efficient, but none of the water pulled up from the ground is replaced. It’s a classic case of deficit spending—unless you can count on a constant recharge from other people’s water.

In most cases, even heavy rainfall doesn’t add that much groundwater, at least not directly. During heavy rainstorms, water runs off into rivers, streams, canals, lakes and reservoirs. Some flows directly into the aquifer, but there are only a few places in the San Joaquin Valley where direct recharge from rainfall is highly efficient.

That’s as true for Modesto’s aquifer as anywhere else. While there are some highly efficient recharge areas north of the city, which are the major source of local groundwater recharge, much of the water underneath all that asphalt and concrete very likely comes from the Tuolumne River’s lateral flow through. That means as the aquifer under Modesto is drawn down, there will probably be reduced flows on the Tuolumne.

In effect, much of the water for orchards upstream of Modesto is being diverted from surface sources that would normally flow south. The real question is how much.

Maybe next time the City of Modesto sends a letter to its water users it should not only tell them where their drinking water is coming from, but where it’s going—and to whom. And maybe the city should consider sending those other users a bill, just to be fair.

 

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: eastern Stanislaus County almond orchards, Modesto drinking water, Modesto Reservoir

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Peter Drekmeier says

    July 1, 2014 at 3:21 pm

    Great article, Eric. I wonder what percentage of those 30,000 acres of almonds are sent overseas.

    Reply
  2. Eric Caine says

    July 1, 2014 at 6:30 pm

    What’s really bad is these guys are hurting farmers who play by the rules. The guys who belong to water districts and pay for their water are having their allotments cut way back while the guys in the hills pump as much as they want.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Note: Some comments may be held for moderation.

Primary Sidebar

Off The Wire

White House plan to fight antisemitism takes on centuries of hatred in America
White House plan to fight antisemitism takes on centuries of hatred in America
Recommended steps include raising awareness of antisemitism now and in the past, expanding knowledge of Jewish heritage in the US
www.timesofisrael.com
Oath Keepers leader Rhodes sentenced to 18 years for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy
Oath Keepers leader Rhodes sentenced to 18 years for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes faces a prison sentence up to 25 years in the first punishments for seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
www.washingtonpost.com
Opinion | America?s Poverty Is Built by Design
Opinion | America’s Poverty Is Built by Design
How did the U.S. become a land of economic extremes with the rich getting richer while the working poor grind it out? Deliberately.
www.politico.com
Republican Jewish Coalition Blasts Gosar Over Staffer's Ties To White Supremacist: Fuentes Has 'No Place' In Congress
Republican Jewish Coalition Blasts Gosar Over Staffer’s Ties To White Supremacist: Fuentes Has ‘No Place’ In Congress
The Republican Jewish Coalition slammed Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) following a  TPM…
talkingpointsmemo.com
Newsom restores floodplain funds, adds $290 million to flood control budget
Newsom restores floodplain funds, adds $290 million to flood control budget
After widespread, bipartisan criticism, the governor revised his budget to include $40 million to restore San Joaquin Valley floodplains.
calmatters.org
New Study Finds a High Minimum Wages Creates Jobs
New Study Finds a High Minimum Wages Creates Jobs
Conventional wisdom had long suggested the opposite.
nymag.com
Spiraling in San Francisco?s Doom Loop
Spiraling in San Francisco’s Doom Loop
What it’s like to live in a city that no longer believes its problems can be fixed.
www.curbed.com
San Diego to open homeless camp sites at two parking lots near Balboa Park
San Diego to open homeless camp sites at two parking lots near Balboa Park
The two lots could accommodate about 500 tents and would be an alternative to congregate shelters
www.sandiegouniontribune.com
K-12 enrollment: Does the increase in homeless students indicate a worsening trend?
K-12 enrollment: Does the increase in homeless students indicate a worsening trend?
California’s overall K-12 enrollment declined, but a lack of affordable housing may be fueling an increase in homeless students.
calmatters.org
Sugar Justice: The Clarence Thomas Story
Sugar Justice: The Clarence Thomas Story
Did you see the latest Clarence Thomas bombshell? To head off any…
talkingpointsmemo.com
California's colossal snowpack has yet to melt: 'Less and less places for that water to go'
California’s colossal snowpack has yet to melt: ‘Less and less places for that water to go’
Only about 12 inches of Caliornia’s snow water equivalent melted in April, leaving most of the Sierra Nevada snowpack poised to flow down downhill.
www.latimes.com
The fastest-growing homeless population? Seniors
The fastest-growing homeless population? Seniors
Included in the increasing number of homeless seniors are those experiencing homelessness for the first time after age 50.
calmatters.org

Find us on Facebook

The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Footer

The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Subscribe for Free

* indicates required

Search

• Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 The Valley Citizen

Dedicated to the memory of John Michael Flint. Contact us at thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Editor and publisher: Eric Caine

Website customization and maintenance by Susan Henley Design