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

The Valley Citizen

Nature, Environment, History & Politics

The Valley Citizen

  • Arts
  • Education
  • Environment
  • History
  • Nature
  • Politics
  • Wit
  • About
  • RSS Icon

Groundwater Extraction Needs Oversight Now, Says Kennedy

July 4, 2017 By admin 4 Comments

Dr. Vance Kennedy

Dr. Vance Kennedy is a retired research hydrologist, with degrees in chemical engineering, geochemistry, and geology.

There are hundreds of deep wells in the foothills east of the San Joaquin Valley, especially in Stanislaus and Merced Counties. They are depleting the general water table at an alarming rate. When that water table drops by several hundred feet, no one will be able to live there who relies on groundwater because the cost of pumping will be too great for anyone to afford.

Such a situation is rapidly developing because thousands of acres of water-thirsty almond trees have been planted, with groundwater the overwhelming source of water. Existing ranchers and homeowners will be wiped out financially, with no legal recourse, as their wells are drained dry.

An average of perhaps 10 percent of the pore space in rocks in the foothills contains water that can be drained by wells. Therefore, if you pump a foot of water out of the rocks, the water table could drop by 10 feet. It is simply a mass balance. But things are not as simple as that sounds. Nearby groundwater flows laterally to replace the water withdrawn.

The average rainfall in the foothills is less than 15 inches, of which probably no more than 6 inches drains to the water table (the rest runs off). But the average almond tree needs at least 30 inches of water to survive; most need more. With no restrictions on how much a farmer can pump, the amount may be as much as 40 or 50 inches per year.

But if we use the minimum of only 30 inches, it still means that in the 25 year life of some almond orchards the water table could drop 500 feet, assuming no lateral movement of groundwater. But groundwater does move laterally, and quite easily, if the groundwater is being drawn from a highly permeable aquifer.

Pumping station near Modesto Reservoir

In fact, that is the only kind that exists. If it is not permeable, it is not an aquifer. Productive aquifers can extend under many adjoining properties, so a single very large well can, and will, affect the water table for many thousands of feet in all directions, though unrecognized on the surface.

California law allows a landowner to pump as much water as he wants from his own land. It ignores the underground connection of aquifers. Even though it recently implemented the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, the state is legally still in the stone ages as far as groundwater is concerned—the groundwater act requires a twenty year rollout, far too long to prevent disastrous outcomes in many places. In fact, it was only recently that the state recognized the connection between surface water and groundwater legally. (California hydrologists are at least as knowledgeable as those anywhere else; the politicians and special interests are the problem).

In Stanislaus County and elsewhere, rules prohibit the public from learning how much water a single well is pumping, so a neighbor has no ability to learn how much harm is being done to the general water table, and hence to him or her. The law should require release of pumping information so that the public can know how fast the overall water table is being depleted. After all, groundwater is a public resource and suppression of well production records should be illegal.

Large wells in the foothills are withdrawing a very valuable resource that cannot be replaced in perhaps a 1000 years, even if we stopped pumping after only one orchard life. This is a slow disaster that cannot be prevented under present California law. An effort must be made to alert the general public to certain disaster, unless present laws are changed. This is an effort to document the situation ahead of time.

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: California groundwater law, eastern Stanislaus County almond orchards, Eastern Stanislaus County groundwater, mining groundwater

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Herman Vandiepen says

    July 4, 2017 at 6:02 pm

    Excellent article. We are going to have a crisis soon no matter what we do or especially if we do nothing.

    Reply
  2. Leilani Hagberg says

    July 11, 2017 at 3:08 pm

    What large wells in the foothills?

    Reply
    • Eric Caine says

      July 12, 2017 at 12:46 pm

      Most of the large wells in the foothills are in service to the tens of thousands of acres of recently planted almond orchards.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. The Valley Citizen - Nature Environment Politics History Editorials says:
    July 11, 2017 at 1:19 pm

    […] many observers, including retired hydrologist Vance Kennedy, believe groundwater regulation is still far too lax to have truly beneficial effects. For one […]

    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

Californians: Here's why your housing costs are so high
Californians: Here’s why your housing costs are so high
Half the state’s households struggle to afford the roof over their heads. Here’s what you need to know about one of California’s most vexing issues.
calmatters.org
Las Vegas Pushes to Become First City to Ban Ornamental Grass
Las Vegas Pushes to Become First City to Ban Ornamental Grass
A desert city built on a reputation for excess and indulgence wants to become a model for restraint and conservation with a first-in-the-nation policy banning grass that nobody walks on. Las Vegas-area water officials have spent two decades trying to get people to replace thirsty greenery with desert plants, and now they’re asking the Nevada Legislature to outlaw roughly 40% of the turf that’s left. The Southern Nevada Water Authority estimates there are almost 8 square miles (21 square kilometers) of “nonfunctional turf” in the metro area, grass that no one ever walks on or otherwise uses in
www.voanews.com
Half of Republicans believe false accounts of deadly U.S. Capitol riot-Reuters/Ipsos poll
Half of Republicans believe false accounts of deadly U.S. Capitol riot-Reuters/Ipsos poll
Since the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have pushed false and misleading accounts to downplay the event that left five dead and scores of others wounded. His supporters appear to have listened.
www.reuters.com
Inside the Koch-Backed Effort to Block the Largest Election-Reform Bill in Half a Century
Inside the Koch-Backed Effort to Block the Largest Election-Reform Bill in Half a Century
On a leaked conference call, leaders of dark-money groups and an aide to Mitch McConnell expressed frustration with the popularity of the legislation, even among Republican voters.
www.newyorker.com
New Zealand raises minimum wage to $20 an hour
New Zealand raises minimum wage to $20 an hour
Taxes on the richest New Zealanders are being raised
www.independent.co.uk
The Invisible Asylum | City Journal
The Invisible Asylum | City Journal
Olympia, Washington, is a microcosm of the problems created by the emptying of mental hospitals.
www.city-journal.org
California needs affordable housing. Could these bills help? | CalMatters
California needs affordable housing. Could these bills help? | CalMatters
Key legislators push duplexes, looser regulations and more money to boost housing supply.
calmatters.org
The rich-poor gap in America is obscene. So let's fix it – here's how | Bernie Sanders
The rich-poor gap in America is obscene. So let’s fix it – here’s how | Bernie Sanders
While working people toil, the richest have never have it so good. It’s time to fight back – our democracy depends on it
www.theguardian.com
Sen. Bernie Sanders' Next Progressive Frontier: Reshaping A 'Rigged' Tax System
Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Next Progressive Frontier: Reshaping A ‘Rigged’ Tax System
Sanders will introduce legislation Thursday to restore the corporate tax rate to 35% and add a new progressive tax on the estates of the wealthiest Americans.
www.npr.org
Perspective | Five myths about poverty
Perspective | Five myths about poverty
No, it’s not just an inner city problem. And it’s not the result of individual failure.
www.washingtonpost.com
Los Angeles police clash with protesters in fight to evict major homeless encampment
Los Angeles police clash with protesters in fight to evict major homeless encampment
Echo Park Lake site has become a battleground in the city’s worsening housing and homelessness crisis during the pandemic
www.theguardian.com
The High Stakes in the Amazon Union Fight in Alabama - The Bulwark
The High Stakes in the Amazon Union Fight in Alabama – The Bulwark
It’s about workplace democracy, and could affect not just the tech giant’s employees but those of other firms.
thebulwark.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 © 2021 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