A river without water

The San Joaquin Valley - shouldn't a river run through it?

Shouldn't water run all the way down the San Joaquin River? This is the key question in an ongoing federal case begun in 1988. It is also likely to be a hot issue for the California legislature.

A stop-and-go river

The San Joaquin River, California's second-longest river, has its headwaters high in the Sierra Nevada, in a broad expanse of stunning terrain extending from Mount Ritter in the Minarets Wilderness to Mount Goddard in Kings Canyon National Park.

The San Joaquin flows out of the mountains about 20 miles north of Fresno. Until the late 1940s it meandered west for several miles past Fresno to Mendota, where it turned north towards the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay.

In 1941 the federal government completed Friant Dam as part of the Central Valley Project, blocking the San Joaquin where it emerges from the mountains. At the dam the San Joaquin's water is diverted into two large canals. The Madera Canal heads northwest to irrigate the rich farmland east of Highway 99 between Fresno and Chowchilla. The Friant-Kern Canal goes southeast to supply the equally rich farmland all the way to the Kern River at Bakersfield.

The two canals help to create an agricultural bonanza, providing about 13% of the regional water supply to irrigate more than three million acres of cotton, grapes, orchards, alfalfa, and other crops.

They also create an environmental catastrophe. Except for occasional brief flood releases during wet years, since 1948 the two canals have taken virtually the entire flow of the San Joaquin. The San Joaquin used to have one of the largest salmon runs on the Pacific Coast, and it provided rich habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife. Now the riverbed is dry in two large segments totaling about 60 miles.

A very small amount of water is released from Friant Dam into the river to satisfy water rights for about 30 miles downstream of the dam. Along this short stretch, the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust is implementing an ambitious program of habitat restoration and public recreation.

The riverbed is then totally dry for the next 20 miles, until it reaches the "Mendota pool" near Mendota. At that point the riverbed is refilled during irrigation season with imported water that was pumped out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and sent south through the Delta-Mendota Canal.

The imported water provides an irrigation supply for several farms with historic water rights along the next few miles of the river. These farms take all of the imported Delta water, and then the riverbed is dry again for another 40 miles, until it reaches its confluence with the Merced River.

The law suit

In 1988 the Sierra Club joined a coalition led by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to file a suit to stop the total destruction of these segments of the San Joaquin River. The NRDC coalition contended that the federal government is bound by a state law requiring dam operators to release sufficient water to maintain fish in good condition below their dams.

The federal government and Friant water users argued that the congressional authorization of Friant Dam allows them to divert the entire flow of the San Joaquin River, without regard to the state requirement to release water for fish. After many years of courtroom arguments and appeals, the federal courts finally agreed with the NRDC coalition and held that the federal government is in fact required to comply with state law in its operation of Friant Dam.

With this basic principle established, the court must now decide what actions must be taken to bring dam operations into compliance with law: how much water must be released down the river, and when should it be released? Both of these issues will be hotly contested, and the court probably won't decide for several months at least.

A legislative counterattack

Meanwhile, as soon as the state legislature convened its new session in early December, state Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter) introduced a bill (SB 21) that he said would decide the issues raised by the San Joaquin River litigation.

Florez represents a large part of the area that uses water from the San Joaquin River. In 2003 he took a leading role in passing major bills to improve air quality in the San Joaquin Valley, earning applause from the Sierra Club and other environmental advocates. Initial press reports about SB 21, however, portray the bill as an effort to undo the court victory; it is uncertain whether Florez will be willing to support restoration of any San Joaquin River flows.

The river's defenders

A new and somewhat unusual coalition has recently been formed to promote the value of allowing some of the San Joaquin's water to flow down the full length of the river. The "Save the San Joaquin River Coalition" includes the Central Delta Water Agency, NRDC, Delta Keeper, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, Trout Unlimited, Clean Water Action, and several other environmental, fishing, and wildlife organizations. The new coalition points out that water releases from Friant Dam into the San Joaquin River will have many benefits. If San Joaquin River water is allowed to flow all the way to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta:

• salmon and other native fish will benefit throughout the San Joaquin Valley;
• water quality will improve for downstream communities all the way from Mendota through Stockton, and for everyone who uses water from the Delta;
• a living river with flowing water will provide valuable recreational opportunities and wildlife habitat in an area that is undergoing rapid urbanization.

The coalition contends that proven water-management strategies can ensure both a healthy river and a healthy farm economy, without any new dams.

For more information, see the coalition's web site SaveTheSanJoaquin.org

What You Can Do

Urge your state legislators to support restoration of flows of San Joaquin River water down the entire length of the San Joaquin River, all the way to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. You can find out who your legislators are and how to contact them at www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html

by Dan Sullivan