March 31, 2023 — This week, Ag-Week reported on a California farmer’s effort to recharge flood water, rather than letting it flow into the Pacific Ocean.
Featured in the story is Don Cameron
In an especially wet year, Cameron’s operation can return 8,000 to 9,000 acre-feet of water back to the ground each month, both from rainwater and melted snowpack. By inundating fields instead of diverting precipitation into flood channels, more farmers could allow the water to seep underground for future use during drought conditions.
Cameron’s Terranova Ranch
Terranova Ranch has pioneered the concept of on-farm water recharge in California. For over 25 years we have been working toward recharging the aquifer below us, our main source of irrigation water.
In 2011, flood water was applied to farm fields and documented by researchers at Bachand & Associates and UC Davis. In 2012 the Kings River Conservation District (KRCD) was granted $5 million from the California Department of Water Resources along with $2 million in matching funds from Terranova Ranch to build infrastructure in order to capture and distribute floodwater to Terranova and nearby farmland for on-farm recharge. Sustainable Conservation and UC Davis have been partners in this project.
Work is progressing to implement this project which, at full capacity, will be able to recharge up to 1,000 acre feet of floodwater per day. This project will be a perfect fit with the sustainable ground water management plan for our area. More importantly, it shows Terranova’s commitment to long-term sustainability goals for farming in the San Joaquin Valley.
Copying nature by allowing water to flow across the landscape is considered the most cost-effective way to manage peak flood flows while storing surplus water for drier periods. Since the introduction of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in 2014, California’s policymakers have been developing economic incentives for more farmers to adopt this approach. Some water districts have offered growers credits toward water rights in exchange for recharge, and pending state legislation could simplify permitting and guarantee water rights for participating farmers.
Although there is no statewide monitoring of on-farm recharge, Sustainable Conservation has been tracking four water districts in the San Joaquin Valley. As of mid-February
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