Category Archives: Agriculture

You Can’t Always Get What You Want – A Mick Jagger Theory of Drought Management

Posted on August 28, 2022 by jaylund

by Jay Lund [This is a reposting of a CaliforniaWaterBlog.com post from February 2016, near the end of the previous drought.  For human uses, conditions seem somewhat similar to this point in the previous drought, so this perspective might be … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, California Water, Drought, Economy, Uncategorized | Tagged | 2 Comments

Jobs per drop irrigating California crops

Posted on December 8, 2019 by jaylund

By Josué Medellín-Azuara, Jay Lund and Richard Howitt Reposted from Apr 28, 2015 (an oldie, but goodie!) Some of the most popular drought stories lately have been on the amount of what water needed to produce food from California, as a consumer … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Drought | Tagged , , , , , | 23 Comments

The Dreamt Land by Mark Arax: We’re all complicit in California’s water follies

Posted on October 21, 2019 by Ann Willis

by Ann Willis We are all sinners. At least, that’s the impression Mark Arax leaves in The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California. What’s bold, and distinguishes this book from others about California, is that Arax grapples with … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, California Water, Drought, education, Stressors, Sustainability | Tagged | 1 Comment

Fish managers tasked with ranching? Conservation wins

Posted on August 12, 2018 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

by Ann Willis In May, the Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) approved $2.4M for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) to acquire Shasta Big Springs Ranch on the Shasta River, a tributary to the Klamath River.  This follows a … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Conservation, Planning and Management, reconciliation, Sustainability | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Modeling, Measuring, and Comparing Crop Evapotranspiration in the Delta

Posted on April 23, 2018 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

by Jesse Jankowski Crop evapotranspiration (ET) is the biggest managed loss of water in California, accounting for roughly 80% of human net water use, and includes crop water applications transpired from plants and evaporated from soil. Methods to estimate ET … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, California Water, Delta, Planning and Management, Tools | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Groundwater Nitrate Sources and Contamination in the Central Valley

Posted on September 17, 2017 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

by Katherine Ransom and Thomas Harter In California’s Central Valley, many communities depend significantly or entirely on groundwater as their drinking water supply. Studies estimate the number of private wells in the Central Valley to be on the order of … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, California Water, Groundwater, Nitrate, Water Supply and Wastewater | Tagged , | 6 Comments

The Little Shasta River: A model for sustaining our national heritage

Posted on September 5, 2017 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

by Ann Willis, Rob Lusardi, Alex Hart, Susan Hart, Blair Hart, Andrew Braugh, Amy Campbell, Ada Fowler Rancher: farms. Conservationist: fish. Researcher: science. Too often, identity is used to divide us. Stereotypes are used to stake out conflicting positions. It’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Conservation, Fish, reconciliation, Restoration, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Economic Analysis of the 2016 California Drought for Agriculture

Posted on August 15, 2016 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

by Josué Medellín-Azuara, Duncan MacEwan, Richard E. Howitt, Daniel A. Sumner, and Jay R. Lund The drought continues for California’s agriculture in 2016, but with much less severe and widespread impacts than in the two previous drought years, 2014 and … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Drought, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 13 Comments

California’s Delta-Groundwater Nexus: Delta Effects of Ending Central Valley Overdraft?

Posted on April 17, 2016 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

By Timothy Nelson, Heidi Chou, Prudentia Zikalala, Jay Lund, Rui Hui, and Josué Medellín–Azuara Surface water and groundwater management are often tightly linked, even when linkage is not intended or expected. This link has special importance in drier regions, such … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, California Water, Delta, Groundwater, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Sailing the Seas of Data Discovery

Posted on April 10, 2016 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

by Megan Nguyen Which display is more engaging to you? The table or the map? Do you remember a time when you really needed to find something in your room that you know you for certain have but can’t remember … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Drought, Tools, Uncategorized | Tagged | 7 Comments