• 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

Flash—It’s Not Just a Groundwater Problem

November 24, 2013 By Eric Caine 5 Comments

California Aqueduct
California Aqueduct

Insanity is often described as doing the same thing  again and again and expecting different results. It’s an apt description of what happens when Californians keep expecting different results from their (mis)use of water.

Most Valley citizens were surprised to read that parts of Merced County are sinking as much as a foot a year. The cause is subsidence—the collapse of land that occurs when too much water is pumped from an underground aquifer.

Subsidence isn’t a new problem in the San Joaquin Valley. As we’ve written here, a portion of Valley land including Los Banos and Kettleman City features the largest known area of subsidence in the world—some 1500 square miles. Subsidence is making news now because it has crept both north and west, is starting to have seismic effects on the Delta-Mendota Canal, and is even touching the California aqueduct.

It would appear from the news of the day that the Valley’s problems with subsidence are a local phenomenon, but in fact they’re symptomatic of a harsh reality Californians have tried to avoid for well over fifty years—the state’s unreliable water supply.

When construction of the California Aqueduct started in 1963, it was touted as the engineering marvel that would solve California’s manifold water problems. The aqueduct did indeed deliver water to thirsty populations south of the San Joaquin Delta and even helped slow subsidence in the Los Banos and Kettleman City regions, as famers began receiving surface water via the Delta Mendota Canal.

Farther south, the aqueduct and an intricate system of canals and pumping stations delivered pure northern California snowmelt to the Westlands Water District and Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Over time, because of diversions south and westward, the San Joaquin River dried up for over sixty miles, salmon runs along the Tuolumne River diminished to almost nothing, and the Delta itself began suffering from intrusions of salt water that affected the entire ecosystem.

It was only when a decades old lawsuit finally reached settlement that the courts ordered water be restored to the San Joaquin. Not long afterwards, federal and state governments ordered increased flows along the overused Tuolumne River in hopes salmon would return.

Meanwhile, thousands of acres of almond orchards were planted in eastern Merced and Stanislaus Counties, towns like Los Banos, Merced, and Patterson continued to grow, and farmland continued to sprawl onto unirrigated property. The aquifer again became a water source, only this time at an even more demanding rate than in the past.

But even while environmental alarms bells are ringing louder than ever, there’s no sign we’re ready to avert another catastrophe. The proposed Delta tunnels plan, the California aqueduct on steroids, continues to be touted as a solution to problems caused by surface water diversions and deliveries.

More orchards and pumps continue to appear on the Valley’s east side, even while nearby wells go dry at ever faster rates. So far, meetings to address the problem have only resulted in calls to keep groundwater law local, just as it’s been in the past.

And during the proposed Modesto Irrigation District water sale, a constant theme was that water transfers are an acceptable way to address statewide water shortages. It all sounds good on paper, the tunnels, the local management, the water transfers, but all three methods represents failed strategies of the past.

In other words, we’re about to repeat the same actions and expect different results. That’s just crazy.

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: San Joaquin Valley groundwater, Subsidence Merced County, Subsidence San Joaquin Valley

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Brad Johnson says

    November 24, 2013 at 8:04 pm

    we can not keep farming by pumping more water then the rain fall brings with out stealing water from the land near by. if you get 1 foot of rain then you should not be able to pump more then 1 foot out…. the almond corporations are using 3 to 4 feet of water each year , and we see the ground water drop more then this amount over time.. how will we regulate this with corporate farmers controlling the local and state boards?
    we must keep in mind that almonds do not feed the world , it’s a export crop that makes CEO’s and large land owners very rich using the back breaking labor of underpaid workers.

    Reply
  2. keith law says

    November 24, 2013 at 8:32 pm

    Thanks you again Valley Citizen, as the article back in June 2013 was the first I can recall to expose the occurrence and extent of subsidence in the Central Valley. Most did not learn until this weekend, and even now it is not the leading story that it should be.

    A few of us are headed out to photograph the damage and I will try to get back to VC with some images

    Reply
    • Eric Caine says

      November 24, 2013 at 8:43 pm

      Actually we started writing about the local groundwater situation in March, then cranked it up through April, May, and June. Looking forward to the pics, but also alarmed at what’s to come. This is only the beginning.

      Reply
  3. West Sider says

    November 26, 2013 at 6:49 pm

    Thanks for the great article Eric. I am glad you mentioned the West Side towns. Patterson has been the most reckless in terms of growth. On December 4th, the massive 1, 000 acre West Patterson Business Park expansion is going before LAFCO. This project doesnt have a water source and relies entirely on pumping groundwater. Ag land can be fallowed. Are these homes and businesses going to be cut off when the wells run dry?

    Reply
    • Eric Caine says

      December 5, 2013 at 1:07 am

      With so many growth promoters in Patterson, it will be interesting to see how long the water lasts.

      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

California faces catastrophic flood dangers ? and a need to invest billions in protection
California faces catastrophic flood dangers and a need to invest billions in protection
A new state plan for the Central Valley calls for spending as much as $30 billion over 30 years to prepare for the dangers.
www.latimes.com
Oakland will get millions for the ?inhumane? crisis at one huge homeless encampment. Officials say it?s not enough
Oakland will get millions for the “inhumane” crisis at one huge homeless encampment. Officials say it’s not enough
Gavin Newsom’s administration has awarded Oakland a $4.7 million grant to come up with…
www.sfchronicle.com
Alaska?s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.
Alaska’s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.
Mary Peltola won her election by campaigning on a platform to save the state’s prized fisheries. A powerful fishing lobby is standing in her way.
www.politico.com
Jimmy Carter's final foe: A parasitic worm that preyed on millions in Africa and Asia
Jimmy Carter’s final foe: A parasitic worm that preyed on millions in Africa and Asia
One of former President Carter’s biggest hopes is wiping out an infectious parasitic disease that’s plagued humans for millennia. How close is he?
www.latimes.com
Climate Extremes Threaten California?s Central Valley Songbirds - Eos
Climate Extremes Threaten California’s Central Valley Songbirds – Eos
A “nestbox highway” in California’s Central Valley is guiding songbirds to safe nesting sites and giving scientists a peek at fledgling success in a changing climate.
eos.org
Alaska Republican touts benefits of children being abused to death
Alaska Republican touts benefits of children being abused to death
Republican David Eastman suggested the death of child abuse victims could be a “cost savings” to wider society.
www.newsweek.com
Editorial: Newsom's drought order amid wet winter threatens iconic California species
Editorial: Newsom’s drought order amid wet winter threatens iconic California species
Gov. Gavin Newsom has effectively ended environmental regulations protecting California rivers and migratory fish by extending drought-year waivers.
www.latimes.com
Two-thirds of McPherson Square homeless remain on street, D.C. says
Two-thirds of McPherson Square homeless remain on street, D.C. says
As of Thursday, just two of the more than 70 residents of McPherson Square had been placed in permanent D.C. housing.
www.washingtonpost.com
More Building Won?t Make Housing Affordable
More Building Won’t Make Housing Affordable
America’s housing crisis has reached unfathomable proportions. But new construction isn’t enough to solve it.
newrepublic.com
Why YIMBYs are about to sue the daylights out of cities across the Bay Area
Why YIMBYs are about to sue the daylights out of cities across the Bay Area
Housing advocates are about to deliver a message to the Bay Area: Comply with state…
www.sfchronicle.com
At the heart of Colorado River crisis, the mighty 'Law of the River' holds sway
At the heart of Colorado River crisis, the mighty ‘Law of the River’ holds sway
At the heart of tensions over water allotments from the Colorado River is a complex set of agreements and decrees known as the ‘Law of the River.’
www.latimes.com
Biden restores roadless protection to the Tongass, North America's largest rainforest
Biden restores roadless protection to the Tongass, North America’s largest rainforest
The Tongass National Forest in Alaska, a focus of political battles over old-growth logging and road-building in forests for decades, has received new protection from the Biden administration.
theconversation.com

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