porous earth and given the time it needs to sink downward.
The storage space is free, but there are logistical barriers,
most of all finding the land. “It takes a lot of land to sink that
water,” says John Andrew, the director of the California De-
partment of Water Resources’ climate change team.
Fortunately, land can be essentially borrowed from farm-
ers, and the state is collaborating on various environmen-
tal nonprofits to modify levees — generally by cutting large
notches into them — so rivers, like the Sacramento, may
flood in the winter months across thousands of acres of his-
toric floodplains, like the Sutter and Yolo bypass areas, that
were separated from the main river channel by levees in the
20th century. During its time on a floodplain, water can per-
colate into the ground. Later in the year, the same land can
be used for farming row crops and rice.
Floodplains also are considered one of the major miss-
ing habitat links essential for reviving California’s depleted
salmon runs, and the reason California Trout, Trout Unlim-
ited and the Golden Gate Salmon Association are pushing for
various floodplain projects.
Biologist Peter Moyle, a professor emeritus at UC Davis,
co-authored a 2017 report predicting that most of California’s
native salmon and trout would eventually vanish, due to
habitat loss, insufficient spawning conditions and the effects
of climate change. “California’s salmon are very well adapt-
ed to extreme events,” he says, but even the hardy Chinook
salmon, the focus of a $1.4 billion fishing industry, has been
pushed to the brink, and climate change is emerging as a ma-
jor adversary to what was once a primary source of food and
natural wealth for many indigenous Californians.
Moyle says maintaining river flows at or above current
levels will be critical to prevent salmon extinction. “Califor-
nia has pretty much reached the limits to how much water it
can divert if we care about having fish,” he says.
Moyle says communities and industries must “do a better
job of water conservation.” He also says thousands of acres
of farmland must be removed from active production. “Irri-
gating the present acreage requires more surface water than
is available, resulting in massive pumping of groundwater,
which is being depleted faster than it can be recharged,” he
says.
Forcing farmers to fallow land is not a likely option, but
Mount believes market forces will drive this change. As water
for farming becomes more costly, certain crops, especially
in regions where water must be purchased, may become un-
profitable to grow. Mount says a recent PPIC analysis found
that once the cost of water for irrigation reaches $400 to $500
per acre-foot, farming is no longer a profitable endeavor.
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