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HELM, Calif., March 24 (Reuters) – When Don Cameron first deliberately flooded his farm in central California in 2011 to pump excess rainwater into his fields, fellow growers said he was crazy.
Today, California water professionals consider Cameron a pioneer. His experiments in controlling floods and replenishing groundwater have become a model that policy makers say others should follow.
California’s outdated infrastructure drained much of the rainwater into the Pacific Ocean as the drought-stricken state was suddenly flooded by a series of storms. Cameron estimates he’s working 8,000 to 9,000 acres of water back to the ground each month, from both rainwater and melted snowpack, in this extremely wet year. This is equivalent to the annual water volume of his 16,000 to 18,000 households in urban areas.
“When we started doing this, our neighbors thought we were absolutely crazy.Everyone we spoke to thought we were going to kill the crops.And behold, I Nova Ranch is a 6,000-acre (2,400-hectare) farm in the San Joaquin Valley, the center of California’s $50 billion agricultural industry, growing wine grapes, almonds, walnuts, We grow pistachios, olives and other crops.
If more farmers started watering their fields instead of diverting precipitation into floodwaters, the surplus could seep underground and be stored in case drought conditions return. There is a possibility
California teeters between a devastating drought and raging floods. This season has been particularly wet, with 12 atmospheric rivers hitting California since late December, making flood control more important. The forecast is for more rain next week.
According to Cameron, the Terra Nova basin is filled with 1.5 to 3.5 feet of water. Ultimately, in addition to 530 acres of pistachio trees and 150 acres of wine vines, he plans to flood 350 acres of land that will only be planted when extra flood water is available.
The state’s Department of Water Resources contributed $5 million, and Terra Nova contributed an additional $8 million to the project. This includes the pump system. So far, the company has had virtually zero profit, Cameron said, but may acquire water rights in the future for its contribution to groundwater.
“Cameron is definitely what we call the godfather of on-farm recharge,” said Ashley Bollen, CEO of Sustainable Conservation, an environmental group focused on supporting sustainable groundwater management. He’s really the pioneer who started it first.”
Mimicking this nature, or running water across the landscape, is the most cost-effective way to manage flows during peak floods, experts say.
“It will benefit not only us, but our neighbors,” Cameron said.
Before the state passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) of 2014, Cameron launched a project he had been passionate about for 30 years.
Since then, policymakers have worked on economic incentives for more farmers to follow suit. Some water districts responsible for implementing the SGMA offer producers credits for their water rights in exchange for recharging. Pending state legislation will simplify permitting and ensure water rights for participating growers.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on March 10 making it easier for farmers to shift floodwaters to their land until June.
Although there is no statewide oversight of on-farm recharge, Sustainable Conservation tracks four water bodies in the San Joaquin Valley, with 260 farmers replenishing aquifers this year and adding at least 50,000 acre feet. (61.7 million cubic meters) of water has returned. In the ground as of mid-February.
With a strategic goal of adding 4 million acre-feet of reservoirs, California recently provided a $260 million grant to the Groundwater Sustainability Agency established under the SGMA. The state has received an application seeking $800 million, demonstrating demand for the project, said Paul Gosselin, deputy director of the state’s Office of Sustainable Groundwater Management.
Besides cost, producers face other obstacles to recharging their farms. Farms must have access to water, must not harm endangered species, and must not flood land exposed to certain fertilizers or pesticides, or dairy farm waste.
In the Merced River Basin, aspiring farmers could recapture enough future floods to replace 31% of overdraft groundwater under existing conditions, participating in a state study of sustainable sustainability. Daniel Mountjoy, Conservation’s resource manager, said. He said that could jump to 63% due to changes in reservoir management and infrastructure improvements.
An estimated 750,000 to 1 million acres of irrigated farmland will need to fallow to achieve sustainability across the San Joaquin Valley, Mountjoy said.
“We are at the beginning of a groundwater recharge program momentum,” said Gosselin of the state’s groundwater authority.
Reported by Mike Blake and Daniel Trotta of Helm, Carlsbad, CA. Edited by Donna Bryson and David Gregorio
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