Environmental

Interior announces $81 million for drought resilience in San Joaquin Valley

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Interior announces $81 million for drought resilience in San Joaquin Valley

The Department of the Interior announced $81 million from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda for water conservation and drought resilience south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in California’s San Joaquin Valley.

Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis, Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science Sarah Krakoff, and Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton joined federal and state leaders and Central Valley Project (CVP) water agencies to announce the funding and sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) outlining a new long-term drought plan for the region. 

The funding comes from the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes $500 million for conservation efforts along with ecosystem and habitat restoration for basins outside the Colorado River Basin experiencing similar levels of long-term drought. The Biden-Harris administration has invested $428 million in the San Joaquin Valley from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. 

For several decades, the CVP has served the communities and economies of central California. The project, extending 400 miles, is a complex, multi-purpose network of dams, reservoirs, canals, hydroelectric powerplants and other facilities, which reduces flood risk for the valley and supplies domestic and industrial water supplies across the region. The project supports about 2.5 million people a year, providing supplies to 250 contractors in 29 of California’s 58 counties.

The MOU commemorated between Reclamation and CVP South-of-Delta contractors – including the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors Water Authority and Friant Water Authority – identifies a framework, long-term drought plan, and 2024 Pilot Program, including a “drought pool,” to build drought resiliency. 

“Access to clean and reliable water is essential for feeding families, growing crops, sustaining wildlife and the environment and powering agricultural businesses. It also creates incredible potential for economic opportunity and job creation,” said Krakoff. “This new drought plan will help provide critical water supplies to refuges and cities, save permanent crops from being fallowed in drought years, and keep water in the San Joaquin River in the worst of drought years.”

CVP water deliveries south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are dependent on Reclamation’s ability to pump water from the Delta, San Luis Reservoir water storage, and conveyance through CVP canals. Seasonal shifts in water availability and worsening droughts impact operational flexibility and increase regulatory uncertainty.  

The plan provides major benefits to farmers and salmon in the San Joaquin, California’s second longest river. The river restoration program has junior water rights and is vulnerable to severe water cutbacks in the driest of years. The creation of a “drought pool” of additional water supplies in these driest of years will help ensure that there is water for the salmon when they most need it. 

The contractors, in collaboration with Reclamation, have identified a number of critical infrastructure projects that are key to successful implementation. The $81 million investment will help fund a majority of the projects and help establish additional aquifer storage, recharge and recovery wells, re-operations of existing surface storage and conveyance capacity expansion.