Working Together to Restore Water in the Central Valley

Exciting news! Sustainable Conservation is partnering with the California Department of Water Resources, Laguna Irrigation District, Kings Basin Water Authority and Coca-Cola to launch a project in the San Joaquin Valley aimed at recharging dwindling groundwater reserves using floodwater.

The project involves turning 52 acres of former farmland into a giant dirt bathtub, called a recharge basin. During wet years, floodwater from the nearby Kings River will be redirected to fill the basin where it will then seep into the ground and raise water levels in the aquifer below. The groundwater can be used immediately or stored for dry years.

Project partners anticipate that the basin will recharge the underlying groundwater aquifer with approximately 2,600 acre feet, or more than 3 billion liters, of water each year on average. That’s enough water to irrigate around 1,300 acres of crops like grapes or tomatoes.

Read the latest press release, Conservation, Industry Leaders Team Up to Restore Groundwater in California’s Central Valley, to learn more about this unique alliance of public, private and nonprofits working together to improve the region’s supply of groundwater for farming, communities and the environment.