• 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

Will Supervisors Pass the Water Test?

June 8, 2014 By Eric Caine Leave a Comment

SWAC Members Wayne Zipser, Walt Ward, Terry Withrow, and Mike Lynch
SWAC Members Wayne Zipser, Walt Ward, Terry Withrow, and Mike Lynch

To hear the Modesto Bee tell it, Stanislaus County Supervisors’ attempts to formulate a groundwater policy are explorations into terra incognita:

“Being first can make you the focus of a lot of attention. That’s just one of the reasons Stanislaus County’s efforts to deal with water issues are important. We’re among the first in the Valley coming to grips with finding and supplying enough water to keep agriculture not just alive but thriving.”

But county groundwater policies are nothing new. Neighboring San Joaquin County began monitoring groundwater use in 1971, over forty years ago. The effort continues today. Yolo County has a plan any interested citizen can access and review. Both plans could be emulated, and it wouldn’t take a committee to do so.

It’s certainly true that in many areas of the San Joaquin Valley there is neither monitoring nor regulation. That’s why one section of the Valley features the largest area of land subsidence (due to overdrafting groundwater) in the world. Overall, over 5200 acres in the Valley have subsided at least one foot, according to measurements made in 1970. The largest measured subsidence was near Mendota. There, the land had sunk almost thirty feet.

So why the mystification about groundwater in Stanislaus County? Much of the confusion comes from an effort by the recently appointed Stanislaus Water Advisory Committee (SWAC) to wrap groundwater issues in a shroud of smoke.

The committee’s efforts aren’t anything new. There’s a long tradition nationwide of keeping groundwater exploitation out of sight and out of mind. But history is now at a turning point. The current drought has magnified attention and new media have made access to water news widely available. Today, those who wish to keep groundwater exploitation to themselves have nowhere to hide.

On June 10, Stanislaus County Supervisors will review the SWAC recommendations. Although the recommendations are called an “action plan,” they are better described as an inaction plan. The clear attempt is to stall. Instead of approving the plan, the supervisors at the very minimum should approve the following:

  • A moratorium on new well permits with exceptions for emergencies.
  • A requirement that large growing operations identify sustainable water sources before planting for the first time.
  • A requirement for an Environmental Impact Report for large growing operations before planting for the first time.
  • Hiring an expert or expert team of scientists with no local political or financial affiliations.

The supervisors will have to contend with intense political pressure to do anything meaningful. It’s far more likely they’ll choose to delay, defer, and duck. But this is a new era of resource realities, and every moment of delay permits ongoing depletion of one of the last of the San Joaquin Valley’s viable aquifers.

Delay will also hasten state intervention. News of the groundwater crisis has spread throughout California, and no one is advocating doing nothing. Stalling tactics are no longer politically viable. Most people know that even if we get three unusually wet years in row, there won’t be enough rain to restore depleted aquifers.

SWAC member Terry Withrow, a county supervisor, has said repeatedly that everyone is watching Stanislaus County and he’s right. New media like Aquafornia, Maven’s Notebook, and Brown and Caldwell Water News offer the people of California easy access to water news. There’s now widespread awareness of the manifold negative effects of overdrafting.

Stanislaus County Supervisors have an unprecedented opportunity to lead the way to local management of groundwater resources. Unfortunately, it looks as though they’re poised to follow a path of least resistance into yet another San Joaquin Valley sinkhole. Let’s hope they step forward and do the right thing.

 

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: San Joaquin Valley groundwater, Stanislaus County aquifer, Stanislaus County groundwater, Stanislaus Water Advisory Committee

Reader Interactions

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

In California?s Heartland, a New Resistance Movement Is Taking Root
In California’s Heartland, a New Resistance Movement Is Taking Root
How do you change a place as polluted and desperately unequal as the San Joaquin Valley?
www.nytimes.com
America?s Approach to Addiction Has Gone Off the Rails
America’s Approach to Addiction Has Gone Off the Rails
In a time of fentanyl and meth, we need to use law enforcement differently and more often.
www.theatlantic.com
Plastic Pollution Is So Pervasive That It?s Causing a New Disease in Seabirds
Plastic Pollution Is So Pervasive That It’s Causing a New Disease in Seabirds
Researchers coined the term “plasticosis” to describe stomach damage related to ingesting trash.
www.audubon.org
'Greedflation,' Conspiracy Theories, And Conspiracy
‘Greedflation,’ Conspiracy Theories, And Conspiracy
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM?s home for opinion and news…
talkingpointsmemo.com
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

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