To understand how water managers may protect California against flooding and groundwater overdraft in a warming climate, DWR linked several distinct pieces of software that simulated upper watershed snowpack and runoff, routed river flows, managed reservoir pools, optimized recharge operations, and modeled the resulting groundwater movement to determine the ultimate fate of recharged water.
The Watershed Studies are a novel approach to modeling climate change impacts at the watershed scale, from precipitation trends in the upper watershed to groundwater behavior beneath the Valley floor.
A Groundwater Recharge Guide for Vineyards Sustainable Conservation and the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA) have released A Groundwater Recharge Guide for Vineyards to help winegrape growers evaluate, plan, and implement on-farm groundwater recharge to contribute to regional groundwater sustainability. As California’s wine regions face growing groundwater pumping regulations under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), the guide equips growers with…
Across the discussions, a common themed emerged: California’s climate and natural resource challenges are deeply interconnected, and the most effective solutions recognize and strengthen the connections between our watersheds, working lands, communities, and ecosystems.
Recharge is a practice that Sustainable Conservation has championed for over a decade largely because of the myriad beneficiaries it creates. The “Recharge For…” dropdown menu focuses on specific benefits and resources for growers, water districts and groundwater sustainability agencies, communities, ecosystems, and policymakers.
Sustainable Conservation’s team is hard at work to scale multibenefit groundwater recharge to capture water in wet years, store it underground, and make it available in dry years.
With California’s landmark groundwater regulations coming into effect, pumping groundwater to irrigate agriculture at its current acreage is unsustainable in some regions. Without alternatives, land managers might be left with idling their land as the most affordable option, but this can contribute to dust, pollution, weeds, pests, and other negative impacts for neighboring farms and nearby communities — all while providing no earning potential.
Cover crops are a known practice in California agriculture for reducing water runoff, increasing the amount of water that can infiltrate and stay in the soil, improving biodiversity, limiting groundwater pollution, and supporting better air quality, among other benefits. But under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), concerns persist about whether cover crops “count against” growers’ limited water budgets and begs the question, is cover cropping worth the risk?
“There is no miracle prescription that will solve all of California’s climate and natural resource challenges, but a combination of science-backed solutions that can be feasibly scaled across the state is what gives me hope right now.”
The watershed studies released this winter offer regional-scale information on hydrology, infrastructure, and recharge potential so local partners can better coordinate diversions, improve public safety, and enhance long-term water supply reliability.
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Each October 1st, the start of the new Water Year quietly slips by most Californians’ calendars — but not Sustainable Conservation’s Water for the Future Team!