top of page

Enter your email below to subscribe to our weekly newsletter!
Enter your email below to subscribe to our weekly newsletter!
What a Water Week
For the month of August, there has been a lot going on in California water. My job for Milk Producers Council is to be the dairy industry’s eyes, ears, and advocate on water supply. I participated in a number of meetings this past week and I thought I would share a bit of what I learned.
Â
Subsidence has been a problem in California ever since we began using large capacity wells to do irrigation. The DWR document describes the...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
Aug 158 min read
California Water History in a Minute – Subsidence
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) recently released a document on subsidence and how to stop it. When groundwater is pumped, particularly from wells deep underground, the ground above can sink, as the clays between the aquifer and the ground surface compress. This phenomenon of the ground surface sinking is called subsidence.
Â
Subsidence has been a problem in California ever since we began using large capacity wells to do irrigation. The DWR document descr
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
Aug 14 min read
New Development on the Bay-Delta Plan
The State Water Resources Control Board has significant control and authority over how water flows through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The Delta is essentially the valve through which Northern California surface water passes through on its way to the ocean. A limited amount of that flow is diverted to the aqueducts for use in the Central Valley, Southern California and the Bay Area. For a number of years, the State Water Board has been in the process of updating t
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
Jul 253 min read
Stay Hopeful, My Friends
Tucked away in the Big Beautiful Bill is a billion dollars of grant money to pay for “construction and associated activities that restore or increase the capacity or use of existing conveyance facilities constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation or for construction and associated activities that increase the capacity of existing Bureau of Reclamation surface water storage facilities.
The loss in water was split almost equally between the federal Central Valley Project and the
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
Jul 113 min read
Reality Check – Lots of Fresh Water Still Being Sent to the Ocean
Despite executive orders from President Trump and Governor Newsom directing state and federal agencies to do all they can to provide fresh water supply to California's people and farms, more than 300,000 acre-feet of fresh water became salt water over the last 60 days as pumps sat idle in the Delta due to outdated and highly dubious environmental regulations.
The loss in water was split almost equally between the federal Central Valley Project and the State Water Project.
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
May 302 min read
Outdated Water Regulations: A Call for Action
Despite the fact that California has very full Northern California reservoirs and plenty of capacity in the major aqueducts and space to store water south of the delta, the state and federal delta pumping plants sit virtually idle, allowing tens of thousands of acre-feet of fresh water to flow out to the ocean every day. As the Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley pointed...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
Apr 252 min read
California Dairy Sustainability Summit Includes Dairy Water Panel
A well-attended panel discussion on water for dairy operations was part of the program for the California Dairy Sustainability Summit...
Joel Hastings
Mar 288 min read
SGMA Roundup
Semitropic Water Storage District in Kern County approved paying its share of the planning and permitting cost for the delta tunnel this...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
Mar 144 min read
Kern Subbasin Probationary Hearing Scheduled for February 20
I attended two separate Kern Subbasin GSA board meetings this past week. The Kern folks are ready for their hearing. A tremendous amount...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
Feb 151 min read
Pumping 1/100th of Available Water: A Case Study in Regulatory Constraints
On February 10, 2025, flows from the Sacramento River through the Delta were increasing following a series of storms in Northern California.
Scott Hamilton
Feb 153 min read
President Trump is the Great Disrupter and California Water Management Needs Disruption
California is in a situation right now where the northern part of the state (above Sacramento) is very wet, and the rest of the state...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
Feb 72 min read
White House Releases Memo on California Water
On January 20, the White House released a Presidential Action memo on California water (see below). While the intent of the memo is...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
Jan 242 min read
Delta Smelt Fire Drill
The devastating fires in Los Angeles County, fairly or unfairly, have put a spotlight on California water policy. This attention has...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
Jan 172 min read
Water Shorts
On the Colorado River, the Imperial Irrigation District conducted a large temporary land fallowing program this past fall. To qualify...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
Jan 32 min read
First, Do No Harm
I had the privilege of being a panel member at the 10-year anniversary event of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, which...
Geoff Vanden Heuvel
Dec 6, 20243 min read
bottom of page