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129-782: Before the Central Valley Project and State Water Project were built, all freshwater—primarily runoff from the Sierra Nevada—entering the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta flowed into San Francisco Bay. After the pumps powering the Central Valley Project and State Water Project became operational, the freshwater was drawn from the Delta Cross Channel through a maze of river channels and sloughs before entering

258-421: A bond measure . Construction on Stage I of the project, which would deliver the first 2.23 million acre-feet (2.75 km ) of water, began in 1960. Northern Californians opposed the measure as a boondoggle and an attempt to steal their water resources. In fact, the city of Los Angeles – which was to be one of the principal beneficiaries – also opposed the project; locals saw it as a ploy by politicians in

387-554: A connection from Perris to Lake Skinner , further south. The original 1957 California Water Plan included provisions for dams on the Klamath, Eel, Mad and Smith Rivers of California's North Coast. Fed by prolific rainfall in the western Coast Ranges and Klamath Mountains , these rivers discharge more than 26 million acre-feet (32 km ) to the Pacific each year, more than that of the entire Sacramento River system. The plan

516-766: A diversion point for a pair of canals, the Friant-Kern Canal and the Madera Canal . The Friant-Kern Canal sends water southwards through the Tulare Lake area to its terminus at Bakersfield on the Kern River , supplying irrigation water to Tulare , Fresno , and Kern counties. The Madera Canal takes water northwards to Madera County , emptying into the Chowchilla River . The Central Valley also consisted of 500 miles of canals, providing

645-628: A giant offstream storage facility, San Luis Reservoir , formed by the nearby B.F. Sisk Dam . San Luis Reservoir is shared by the SWP and the federal Central Valley Project ; here water can be switched between the California Aqueduct and Delta-Mendota Canal to cope with fluctuating demands. The SWP has a 50 percent share of the 2.04 million acre-feet (2.52 km ) of storage available in San Luis Reservoir. South of

774-529: A maximum depth of 30 feet (9.1 m); some parts of the channel are capable of delivering more than 13,000 cu ft/s (370 m /s). The section of the aqueduct that runs through the San Joaquin Valley includes multiple turnouts where water is released to irrigate roughly 750,000 acres (300,000 ha) of land on the west side of the valley. The aqueduct enters the O'Neill Forebay reservoir west of Volta , where water can be pumped into

903-637: A pair of large dams on the Sacramento River north of the city of Redding . The Shasta Dam is the primary water storage and power generating facility of the CVP. It impounds the Sacramento River to form Shasta Lake , which can store over 4,500,000 acre-feet (5,600,000 dam ) of water, and can generate 680 MW of power. Shasta Dam functions to regulate the flow of the Sacramento River so that downstream diversion dams and canals can capture

1032-764: A pipeline known as the Central Coast Water Authority extension, completed in 1997, the Coastal Branch supplies water to Lake Cachuma , a 205,000 acre⋅ft (0.253 km ) reservoir on the Santa Ynez River . From the terminus of the main California Aqueduct at Tehachapi Afterbay, the West Branch carries water to a second reservoir, Quail Lake, via the Oso Pumping Plant. The water then runs south by gravity to

1161-487: A plan in 1965 for the second phase of the California State Water Project , which created a canal that would transport fresh water from the Sacramento River bypassing the delta, instead of through it. Voters defeated a ballot initiative to build a similar Canal in 1982. Central Valley Project The Central Valley Project ( CVP ) is a federal power and water management project in

1290-607: A series of man-made channels, the Mokelumne River , and other natural sloughs, marshes and distributaries. From there, the water travels to the C.W. Bill Jones Pumping Plant , which raises water into the Delta-Mendota Canal , which in turn travels 117 miles (188 km) southwards to Mendota Pool on the San Joaquin River, supplying water to other CVP reservoirs about midway. A facility exists at

1419-457: A smaller 3.3 MW powerplant. The entire system generates approximately 2.2 billion kilowatt hours per year, making up about a third of the total power generated by SWP facilities. From Oroville, a regulated water flow travels down the Feather and Sacramento Rivers to the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta . North of Rio Vista , about 120,000 acre-feet (0.15 km ) per year is pumped into

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1548-548: A tributary of the Sacramento River, generating 154 MW of power in the process. Whiskeytown Lake (formed by Clair. A Hill Whiskeytown Dam ) in turn provides water to the Spring Creek Tunnel, which travels into the lowermost extreme of Spring Creek, a stream that flows into Keswick Reservoir, generating another 180 MW of electricity. From there the water from the Trinity River empties into Keswick Reservoir and

1677-551: Is a pumped-storage hydroelectric plant capable of producing 1,247 MW on peak demand. Together, Pyramid and Castaic Lakes form the primary storage for West Branch water delivered to Southern California. Water is supplied to municipalities in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The East Branch takes water from Tehachapi Afterbay along the north side of the San Gabriel Mountains and San Bernardino Mountains to

1806-585: Is generated at Folsom and Nimbus dams, and marketed to the Western Area Power Administration . The Folsom Unit consists of Folsom Dam , its primary water storage component, and Nimbus Dam , which serves as its downstream forebay. The Folsom Dam is located on the American River, and stores 1,010,000 acre-feet (1,250,000 dam ) of water in its reservoir, Folsom Lake . Folsom Lake covers 11,550 acres (4,670 ha) and

1935-674: Is located downstream of Nimbus Dam, to compensate for the two dams' destruction of American River spawning grounds. The Sly Park Unit includes Sly Park Dam , Jenkinson Lake, the Camp Creek Diversion Dam, and two diversion tunnels. The Sly Park Dam and its similarly-sized auxiliary dam form Jenkinson Lake, which covers 650 acres (260 ha). Jenkinson Lake feeds the Camino Conduit, a 5 mi (8.0 km) aqueduct . The Camp Creek Diversion Dam diverts some water from Camp Creek into Jenkinson Lake. The third unit

2064-567: Is located inside the Folsom Lake State Recreational Area . Eight additional earth fill saddle dams are required to keep the reservoir from overflowing. The dam also generates 200 MW from three generators. About 7 mi (11 km) downstream of Folsom Dam is the Nimbus Dam , forming Lake Natoma . The dam generates 7.7 MW from two Kaplan turbines on the north side of the river. The Nimbus Fish Hatchery

2193-510: Is mostly made up of buried pipeline. Pumping plants at Las Perillas, Badger Hill, Devil's Den, Bluestone, and Polonio Pass serve to lift the water over the California Coast Ranges . Once over the crest of the mountains, the water is reregulated in a series of small reservoirs numbered Tanks 1 through 5. The Coastal Branch was completed in 1994 following a severe drought that led to calls for importation of SWP water. Through

2322-422: Is mostly used for irrigation. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (the largest entitlement holder) pays $ 298 per acre-foot ($ 241 per 1,000 m ). This basically means that cities are subsidizing the cost of farm water, even though the cities also provided primary funding for the construction of the SWP. In the early 1970s, the SWP system still had a lot of "surplus" – water supply developed through

2451-636: Is released into rivers and wetlands in order to comply with state and federal ecological standards. Two large reservoirs, Shasta Lake and Trinity Lake , are formed by a pair of dams in the mountains north of the Sacramento Valley . Water from Shasta Lake flows into the Sacramento River which flows to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and water from Trinity Lake flows into the Trinity River which leads to

2580-594: Is the Auburn-Folsom South Unit , consisting of several dams on American River tributaries. These include Sugar Pine Dam and Pipeline (supplying water to Foresthill ), and the uncompleted Folsom South Canal. The primary component of the unit, concrete thin-arch Auburn Dam , was to be located on the North Fork of the American, but was never built because of the significant risk of earthquakes in

2709-539: Is the largest single consumer of power in the state itself, it has a net usage of 5,100 GWh. The SWP collects water from rivers in Northern California and redistributes it to the water-scarce but populous cities through a network of aqueducts, pumping stations and power plants. About 70% of the water provided by the project is used for urban areas and industry in Southern California and

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2838-637: Is the single most important reservoir of the project. Water stored in Lake Oroville is released through the 819 MW Edward Hyatt pumped-storage powerplant and two other hydroelectric plants downstream of Oroville Dam, which together make up the Oroville-Thermalito Complex . The Thermalito Forebay and Afterbay support the 120 MW Thermalito Pumping-Generating Plant, and the Thermalito Diversion Dam supports

2967-561: Is the tallest dam in the United States; by volume it is the largest dam in California. Authorized by an emergency flood control measure in 1957, Oroville Dam was built between 1961 and 1967 with the reservoir filling for the first time in 1968. Lake Oroville has a capacity to store approximately 3.54 million acre-feet (4.37 km ) of water which accounts for 61 percent of the SWP's total system storage capacity, and

3096-610: The American River , which drains off the Sierra Nevada and flows into the Sacramento River . The division is further divided into three units: the Folsom, Sly Park and Auburn-Folsom South. The American River Division stores water in the American River watershed, to both provide water supply for local settlements, and supply it to the rest of the system. The dams also are an important flood control measure. Hydroelectricity

3225-488: The California Aqueduct . Completed in 1963, the eleven pump units can lift up to 10,670 cu ft/s (302 m /s) of water – upgraded in 1986 from its original capacity of 6,400 cu ft/s (180 m /s) across seven units. From here the water flows briefly south along the California Aqueduct to the 4,800 acre⋅ft (0.0059 km ) Bethany Reservoir . The South Bay Pumping Plant supplies

3354-458: The California Coast Ranges . The West San Joaquin Division and San Luis Unit consist of several major facilities that are shared with the federal California State Water Project (SWP). San Luis Dam (or B.F. Sisk Dam) is the largest storage facility, holding 2,000,000 acre-feet (2,500,000 dam ) of water. Although called an offstream storage reservoir by USBR, the reservoir floods part of

3483-612: The Clean Water Act and harm endangered fish species. Before 2015, the Bay Delta Conservation Plan had two coequal goals of habitat restoration and water supply improvement. In April 2015, the habitat restoration plan and the water supply improvement plan were separated. In effect, the 50-year guarantee to restore the Delta's environment has been dropped. As of 2016, a new concept that tries to accomplish

3612-613: The Clifton Court Forebay north of Tracy , where water is pumped into the California Aqueduct and the Delta-Mendota Canal . Large numbers of Delta smelt and other endangered species are killed by the pumping plants, which provide water for the aqueducts. Freshwater flowing into the Delta displaces salt water entering from the San Francisco Bay . Senator Dianne Feinstein , former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Governor Jerry Brown supported

3741-624: The Colorado River were insufficient to sustain the region's growth. The SWP was rooted in two proposals. The United Western Investigation of 1951, a study by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation , assessed the feasibility of interbasin water transfers in the Western United States. In California, this plan contemplated the construction of dams on rivers draining to California's North Coast – the wild and undammed Klamath , Eel , Mad and Smith River systems – and tunnels to carry

3870-648: The Delta was where limited irrigation for orchards first started. Following the arrival of the Transcontinental railroad , immigration from Asia and the rest of the U.S. led to growing numbers of settlers in the region. Despite the rich soils and favorable weather of the 42,000-square-mile (110,000 km ) Central Valley, immigrants to the valley who were unfamiliar with its seasonal patterns of rainfall and flooding began to take up irrigation practices. Farmers soon found themselves troubled by frequent floods in

3999-620: The Metropolitan Water District passed Proposition W, a Southern California property tax bond to connect its regional water system to the new state project. In 1961, ground was broken on Oroville Dam , and in 1963, work began on the California Aqueduct and San Luis Reservoir . The first deliveries to the Bay Area were made in 1962, and water reached the San Joaquin Valley by 1968. Due to concerns over

Peripheral Canal - Misplaced Pages Continue

4128-739: The North and Middle forks of the Feather River. Collectively referred to as the Upper Feather River Lakes, these three reservoirs provide a combined storage capacity of about 162,000 acre-feet (0.200 km ). Water released from the Upper Feather River system flows into Lake Oroville , which is formed by the Oroville Dam several miles above the city of Oroville . At 770 feet (230 m), Oroville

4257-550: The Pacific Ocean . Both lakes release water at controlled rates. There, before it can flow on to San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean , some of the water is intercepted by a diversion channel and transported to the Delta-Mendota Canal , which conveys water southwards through the San Joaquin Valley, supplying water to San Luis Reservoir (a SWP-shared facility) and the San Joaquin River at Mendota Pool in

4386-533: The Peripheral Canal and Sites Reservoir, was to have been built beginning in the late 1970s and 1980s – but due to concerted opposition from Northern Californians, environmentalist groups and some economic interests, as well as the state's increasing debt, attempts to begin construction have all met with failure. Parties currently receiving SWP water are also opposed to its expansion, because water rates could be raised up to 300 percent to help pay for

4515-401: The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta faced problems in dry summer and autumn months when the inflowing water was low. In order to continue to sustain the valley's economy, there needed to be systems to regulate flows in the rivers and equally distribute water among the north and south parts of the valley. In 1873, Barton S. Alexander completed a report for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that

4644-475: The Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta . It is a large receding geological floodplain moderated by its Mediterranean climate of dry summers and wet winters that includes regular major drought cycles . At the time of its construction, the project was at the center of a political and cultural battle over the state's future. It intersected with the state's ongoing war over land use, access to water rights, impacts on indigenous communities, large vs. small farmers,

4773-947: The San Francisco Bay Area , and 30% is used for irrigation in the Central Valley . To reach Southern California, the water must be pumped 2,882 feet (878 m) over the Tehachapi Mountains , with 1,926 feet (587 m) at the Edmonston Pumping Plant alone, the highest single water lift in the world. The SWP shares many facilities with the federal Central Valley Project (CVP), which primarily serves agricultural users. Water can be interchanged between SWP and CVP canals as needed to meet peak requirements for project constituents. The SWP provides estimated annual benefits of $ 400 billion to California's economy. Since its inception in 1960,

4902-668: The San Joaquin River —which has far less average flow than the Sacramento—in order to divert its water to southern Central Valley aqueducts. The Friant Dam , completed in 1942, is the largest component of the Friant Division of the CVP. The dam crosses the San Joaquin River where it spills out of the Sierra Nevada, forming Millerton Lake , which provides water storage for San Joaquin Valley irrigators as well as providing

5031-726: The Silverwood Lake reservoir, which can hold 73,000 acre⋅ft (0.090 km ). From here it passes through a tunnel under the San Bernardino Mountains to the Devil Canyon Powerplant, the largest "recovery plant", or aqueduct power plant, of the SWP system. The water then flows 28 miles (45 km) through the Santa Ana Tunnel to Lake Perris , which can store up to 131,400 acre⋅ft (0.1621 km ). Water deliveries through

5160-643: The South Bay Aqueduct , which has delivered water west to Alameda County since 1962 and Santa Clara County since 1965. The aqueduct carries a maximum of 188,000 acre⋅ft (0.232 km ) per year. Up to 77,100 acre⋅ft (0.0951 km ) of this water can be stored in Lake Del Valle , an offstream reservoir located near Livermore . South of the Bay Area diversions, the bulk of the SWP water – ranging from 1 to 3.7 million acre-feet (1.2 to 4.6 km ) per year – travels south along

5289-557: The Trinity Dam forms a blockade that prevents salmon from reaching about 109 miles (175 km) of upriver spawning grounds. In the early years of the 21st century, the Bureau of Reclamation finally began to steadily increase the water flow downstream from Lewiston Dam. While providing less water for the CVP altogether, the new flow regime allows operations to meet the line drawn by Reclamation itself in 1952 stating that at least 48% of

Peripheral Canal - Misplaced Pages Continue

5418-504: The U.S. state of California under the supervision of the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). It was devised in 1933 in order to provide irrigation and municipal water to much of California's Central Valley —by regulating and storing water in reservoirs in the northern half of the state (once considered water-rich but suffering water-scarce conditions more than half the year in most years), and transporting it to

5547-640: The fault -ridden geography of the Tehachapi Mountains, the tunnel plan was scrapped; the water would have to be pumped over the mountains' 3,500-foot (1,100 m) crest. In 1973, the pumps and the East and West branches of the aqueduct were completed, and the first water was delivered to Southern California. A Peripheral Canal , which would have carried SWP water around the vulnerable and ecologically sensitive Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta ,

5676-416: The semi-arid desert environment of the San Joaquin Valley into productive farmland. Freshwater stored in Sacramento River reservoirs and released downriver during dry periods prevents salt water from intruding into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta during high tide . There are eight divisions of the project and ten corresponding units, many of which operate in conjunction, while others are independent of

5805-512: The 27.4-mile (44.1 km) North Bay Aqueduct , completed in 1988. The aqueduct delivers water to clients in Napa and Solano counties. The vast majority of the SWP water is drawn through the Delta's complex estuary system into the Clifton Court Forebay , located northwest of Tracy on the southern end of the Delta. Here, the Harvey O. Banks Pumping Plant lifts water 224 feet (68 m) into

5934-411: The 60-mile (97 km) Trinity Tunnel into the Sacramento River, and thence to the canals and pump systems of the SWP. This would have provided between 5 and 10 million acre-feet (6.2 and 12.3 km ) of water each year for the SWP. The diversion of the North Coast rivers, however were dropped from the initial SWP program. In the mid-1960s, devastating flooding brought renewed interest in damming

6063-469: The 78 MW William E. Warne Powerplant, located on the 180,000 acre⋅ft (0.22 km ) Pyramid Lake reservoir. The West Branch delivered about 537,000 acre⋅ft (0.662 km ) per year for the period 1995–2010. From Pyramid Lake, water is released through the Angeles Tunnel to the Castaic Power Plant on Elderberry Forebay and the 325,000 acre⋅ft (0.401 km ) Castaic Lake reservoir located north of Santa Clarita . Castaic Power Plant

6192-414: The Banks Pumping Plant pulls water from the Sacramento River southward across the Delta, it disrupts the normal flow direction of east to west that salmon smolt follow to the Pacific Ocean. Populations of salmon and steelhead trout have reached critically low levels in the decades after SWP water withdrawals began. The fish migration issue has become hotly contested in recent years, with rising support for

6321-424: The Bureau of Reclamation studied the feasibility of raising Shasta Dam. One of the proposed heights was 18.5 feet (5.6 m) greater than its current size, thus increasing the storage capacity of Shasta Lake by 636,000 acre-feet (784,000 dam ). The agency also proposed a smaller raise of 6.5 ft (2.0 m) that would add 290,000 acre-feet (360,000 dam ). Previously, a 200 ft (61 m) raise of

6450-434: The CVP in order to lessen the ecological impact on the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers. Actions mandated included the release of more water to supply rivers and wetlands, funding for habitat restoration work (especially for anadromous fish spawning gravels), water temperature control, water conservation, fish passage, increasing the service area of the CVP's canals, and other items. Despite the preservation of river programs,

6579-415: The Central Valley into the breadbasket of the U.S. Following the 1848 California Gold Rush , large numbers of U.S. citizens came into the region and made attempts to practice rainfed agriculture , but most of the Central Valley land was taken up by large cattle ranchers like Henry Miller who eventually controlled 22,000 square miles of land. The large-scale levee construction by Chinese workers along

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6708-440: The Central Valley watershed, the CVP's diversion of water from the Trinity River from Lewiston Dam into Whiskeytown Lake has significantly hurt the Klamath River tributary's salmon run. Over three-quarters of the river's flow is diverted through the Clear Creek Tunnel and away from the Trinity River, causing the river below the dam to become warm, silty, shallow and slow-flowing, attributes that hurt young salmon. Furthermore,

6837-432: The Dos Rios dam would have reduced the record 72-foot (22 m) Eel River flood crest of 1964 by only 8 inches (20 cm) had it been in place. In 1980, the North Coast rivers were incorporated into the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system, effectively eliminating the possibility of any projects to divert them. California WaterFix , is a planned twin forty-foot (12 m) tunnel project that would extend through

6966-429: The East Branch averaged 995,000 acre⋅ft (1.227 km ) per year from 1995 through 2012. The East Branch principally provides water for cities and farms in the Inland Empire , Orange County , and other areas south of Los Angeles. Through Lake Perris, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California receives a large portion of its water from the SWP. Water is also supplied to the San Diego Aqueduct through

7095-437: The Metropolitan Water District and urban developers in Los Angeles. They claim it would eliminate the need to pull water directly through this sensitive region, reducing salinity intrusion and water quality problems during the dry season. The canal was included in the initial SWP planning, and the lack of the canal is among the principal reasons the SWP has never been able to deliver its full entitlement. Tunnel opponents believe

7224-438: The North Coast rivers. The Department of Water Resources formed the State-Federal Interagency Task Force with the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers to develop plans for developing the rivers in the name of flood control – which would, incidentally, provide a way to divert some of their water into the SWP system. Although most of the proposed projects met their demise over political squabbles, one that persisted

7353-411: The Peripheral Canal. However, the Peripheral Canal proposal was criticized because it would further reduce the amount of freshwater flowing through the Delta. Farmers in the Delta are among the most opposed to the project because it would decrease the amount of water available to them for irrigation. On August 28, 2014 the United States Environmental Protection Agency commented that the plan could violate

7482-429: The SWP has required the construction of 21 dams and more than 700 miles (1,100 km) of canals, pipelines and tunnels, although these constitute only a fraction of the facilities originally proposed. As a result, the project has only delivered an average of 2.4 million acre-feet (3.0 km ) annually, as compared to total entitlements of 4.23 million acre-feet (5.22 km ). Environmental concerns caused by

7611-406: The Sacramento River and generating peaking power in the process. Trinity Dam forms Trinity Lake , the second largest CVP water-storage reservoir, with just over half the capacity of Shasta and a generating capacity of 140 MW. Lewiston Dam , downstream of Trinity Dam, diverts water into the Clear Creek Tunnel, which travels to empty into a third reservoir, Whiskeytown Lake on Clear Creek ,

7740-415: The Sacramento River during the wet season. The Los Banos Grandes reservoir was first proposed in 1983 and would have served a similar purpose to Sites. The 1.73 million acre-feet (2.13 km ) reservoir would have been located along the California Aqueduct several miles south of San Luis Reservoir, and would have allowed for the storage of water during wet years when extra water could be pumped from

7869-399: The Sacramento River. In 1963, the Spring Creek Debris Dam was constructed just upstream of the outlet of the Spring Creek Tunnel, to prevent acid mine drainage from the Iron Mountain Mine from continuing downstream and contaminating the river. The American River Division is located in north-central California, on the east side of the Great Central Valley. Its structures use the water of

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7998-409: The Sacramento Valley and a general lack of water in the San Joaquin Valley. The Sacramento River , which drains the northern part, receives between 60 and 75% of the precipitation in the Valley, despite the Sacramento Valley covering less area than the much larger San Joaquin Valley, drained by the San Joaquin River , which receives only about 25% of the rainfall. Furthermore, cities drawing water from

8127-456: The Sacramento Valley in 2017, according to a report sent to the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). This is the second lowest number of returning adult winter run salmon since modern counting techniques were implemented in 2003. By comparison, over 117,000 winter Chinooks returned to spawn in 1969. The CVP stores about 13 million acre-feet (16 km ) of water in 20 reservoirs in

8256-423: The Sacramento upriver of Shasta Dam, the American upriver of Folsom Dam, the Stanislaus upriver of New Melones Dam, and the San Joaquin upriver of Mendota —have become inaccessible to migrating salmon. In three of these cases, it is because the dams are too high and their reservoirs too large for fish to bypass via fish ladders . The San Joaquin River, however, had a different fate. Almost 60 mi (97 km) of

8385-446: The Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. Pumped-storage hydroelectric plants would have been built between Los Banos Grandes and the existing Los Banos flood control reservoir, and between that reservoir and the aqueduct. The current status of Los Banos Grandes remains uncertain, as the DWR has been unable to appropriate funding since the 1990s. The existing SWP facilities are collectively known as Stage I. Stage II, which includes such works as

8514-424: The San Joaquin Valley near Bakersfield . The aqueduct then reaches A.D. Edmonston Pumping Plant , which lifts the water 1,926 feet (587 m) over the Tehachapi Mountains that separate the San Joaquin Valley from Southern California. It is the highest pump-lift in the SWP, with a capacity of 4,480 cu ft/s (127 m /s) across fourteen units. Initial construction of Edmonston was completed in 1974, with

8643-444: The San Joaquin salmon run into the Merced River in the 1950s failed, because the salmon did not recognize the Merced as their "home stream". Not only on the San Joaquin River have CVP facilities wreaked environmental havoc. On the Sacramento River, Red Bluff Diversion Dam in Tehama County , while not as large or as impacting as Friant Dam, was once a barrier to the migration of anadromous fish. The original fish passage facilities of

8772-401: The San Luis Canal towards the Coalinga area. A pair of separate dams, Los Baños Detention Dam and Little Panoche Detention Dam, provide flood control in the Los Baños area. The San Luis Drain was a separate project by USBR in an attempt to keep contaminated irrigation drainage water out of the San Joaquin River, emptying into Kesterson Reservoir where the water would evaporate or seep into

8901-423: The San Luis Canal, the federally built section of the California Aqueduct , which carries both CVP and SWP water. The San Luis Canal terminates at Kettleman City , where it connects with the state-built section of the California Aqueduct. With a capacity of 13,100 cubic feet per second (370 m /s), it is one of the largest irrigation canals in the United States. The Coalinga or Pleasant Valley Canal branches off

9030-451: The San Luis Creek valley. San Luis Creek, however, is not the primary water source for the reservoir. Downstream of San Luis Reservoir is O'Neill Forebay , which is intersected by the Delta-Mendota Canal , a separate CVP facility. Water is pumped from the canal into the Forebay and uphill into San Luis Reservoir, which functions as an additional water source during dry periods. Water released from San Luis and O'Neill reservoirs feeds into

9159-413: The San Luis Reservoir complex, the aqueduct steadily gains elevation through a series of massive pumping plants. Dos Amigos Pumping Plant is located shortly south of San Luis, lifting the water 118 feet (36 m). Near Kettleman City , the Coastal Branch splits off from the main California Aqueduct. Buena Vista, Teerink and Chrisman Pumping Plants are located on the main aqueduct near the southern end of

9288-680: The Santa Clara Tunnel and Conduit, carries water to the Santa Clara Valley. Once, profuse runs of anadromous fish — salmon , steelhead , and others—migrated up the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers to spawn in great numbers. The construction of CVP dams on the two rivers and many of their major tributaries—namely Friant Dam and Shasta Dam —mostly ended the once-bountiful Central Valley salmon run. From north to south,

9417-466: The Shasta and Keswick Dams. Diversion dams , pumping plants, and aqueducts provide municipal water supply as well as irrigation of about 100,000 acres (4,000,000 dam ). The Red Bluff Diversion Dam diverts part of the Sacramento River into the 110-mile (180 km) Tehama-Colusa Canal, the 21-mile (34 km) Corning Canal and a small reservoir formed by Funks Dam. Six pump plants take water from

9546-687: The Spanish colonial model of Catholic missions and ranchos (1772–1846) was then followed by the current United States era. Due to its Mediterranean climate , the first cultural period was hunter-gatherer based. The Spanish missions' ranching and tanning business was based on the forced labor of Las Californias tribes. Spain's model of land use with the grazing of livestock for meat, wool and leather started along Alta California 's coast eventually spreading inland. The U.S. era evolved from primarily ranching to large-scale plantations or more commonly known today as corporate farming that turned

9675-619: The area, and general public opposition to the project. However, the high Foresthill Bridge , built as part of the preliminary work for Auburn Dam, still stands. County Line Dam, about 10 miles (16 km) south of Folsom Dam, was also never built. One of the most important parts of the CVP's San Joaquin Valley water system is the series of aqueducts and pumping plants that take water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and send it southwards to supply farms and cities. The Delta Cross Channel intercepts Sacramento River water as it travels westwards towards Suisun Bay and diverts it south through

9804-504: The canal and feed it to the Colusa County water distribution grid. Water diversions from northern rivers in the state remain controversial due to environmental damage. Trinity River Division is the second largest CVP department for the northern Sacramento Valley. The primary purpose of the division is to divert water from the Trinity River into the Sacramento River drainage downstream of Shasta Dam in order to provide more flow in

9933-520: The canal being built. Since the 1980s, there has been interest in creating a large off-stream reservoir in the Sacramento Valley. Water "skimmed" off high winter flows in the Sacramento River would be pumped into a storage basin in the western side of the valley known as Sites Reservoir. The reservoir would hold about 1.8 million acre-feet (2.2 km ) of water to be released into the Sacramento River during low-flow periods, boosting

10062-570: The center of the Delta, 150 feet (46 m) below ground. Earlier designs called for a Peripheral Canal to skirt the Delta to the east. The tunnels would draw water from the Sacramento River to bypass the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, a vast estuary and agricultural region consisting of over 700 miles (1,100 km) of tidal waterways. Supporters of the canal and tunnel have included the Central Valley farmers and

10191-575: The city dwellers and power sales from the generation of electricity pay of the project costs. On the Stanislaus River , a major tributary of the San Joaquin, lies the relatively independent East Side Division and New Melones Unit of the CVP. The sole component of the division/unit is New Melones Dam , forming New Melones Lake , which, when filled to capacity, holds nearly 2,400,000 acre-feet (3,000,000 dam ) of water, about equal to

10320-584: The construction of Oroville Dam, which was running unused to the Pacific Ocean because the water delivery infrastructure for Southern California had not yet been completed (and when it was, southern California was slow to use the water). The surplus water was given for irrigation in the San Joaquin Valley instead. Because the water would only be a temporary supply, farmers were advised to use it for seasonal crops (such as alfalfa or hay) rather than permanent crops such as orchards. Nevertheless, many farmers used

10449-557: The construction of a Peripheral Canal to instead draw water from the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers to the federal aqueducts. Because of drought and other low flow issues that cause salty ocean water to flow from pumping stations which are located at the southern edge of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta into the aqueducts of both the state ( California Aqueduct ) and federal government ( Delta-Mendota Canal ), aquatic environments as well as water for drinking and irrigation are contaminated. Thus, both state and federal agencies proposed

10578-631: The construction of the Peripheral Canal, which would divert water around the Delta, restoring the natural flow direction. Water use and environmental problems associated with the SWP led to the creation of the CALFED Bay-Delta Program (CALFED) in 1994. The primary goals are to improve quality of SWP water while preventing further ecological damage in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. In January 2014, after

10707-507: The construction project would do extensive damage to the sensitive Delta ecosystem, farms and communities. Opponents also believe there will be long-term damage to the Delta ecosystem from fresh water being removed prior to flushing through the Delta and flowing more naturally to the San Francisco Bay. Governor Jerry Brown had supported a ballot initiative approving the canal in the early 1980s, and stated his intention to finish

10836-603: The cost. As a result, SWP capacity falls short by an average of 2 million acre-feet (2.5 km ) each year; contractors only occasionally receive their full shares of water. The disparity of costs to the project's various constituents has been a frequent source of controversy. Although the overall average cost of SWP water is $ 147 per acre-foot ($ 119 per 1,000 m ), agricultural users pay far less than their urban counterparts for SWP water. The Kern County Water Agency (the second largest SWP entitlement holder) pays around $ 45–50 per acre-foot ($ 36–41 per 1,000 m ) of SWP water, which

10965-517: The crest of the old dam. This results in the river below the dam attaining a much higher temperature than usual, hurting native fish and wildlife. To solve this problem, Reclamation shuts off operations of the dam's hydroelectric power plant when water levels are drastically low, but this results in power shortages. Originally, after the dam was constructed, the State of California put filling the reservoir on hold because of enormous public opposition to what

11094-484: The dam continually experienced problems from the beginning of operation in 1966, and introduced species that prey on young smolt often gather at the base of the dam, which reduced the population of outmigrating juvenile salmon into the Pacific. The Red Bluff Diversion Dam has since been replaced with a fish screen and pumping plant, thus allowing unimpaired passage through Red Bluff. Further upstream, Keswick and Shasta Dams form total barriers to fish migration. Even out of

11223-465: The dam, increasing storage to 13,890,000 acre-feet (17,130,000 dam ), was considered, but deemed uneconomical. When Shasta Dam was first built, it was actually planned to be two hundred feet higher than it is now, but Reclamation stopped construction at its present height because of a shortage of materials and workers during World War II . The raising of the dam would further regulate and store more Sacramento River water for dry periods, thus benefiting

11352-433: The dry-season removal of water from the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta , a sensitive estuary region, have often led to further reductions in water delivery. Work continues today to expand the SWP's water delivery capacity while finding solutions for the environmental impacts of water diversion. The original purpose of the project was to provide water for arid Southern California, whose local water resources and share of

11481-517: The dwindling fish populations of Northern and Central California rivers. In 2017 the Klamath and Trinity rivers witnessed the worst fall run Chinook salmon return in recorded history, leading to a disaster declaration in California and Oregon due to the loss of the commercial fisheries. The recreational fall Chinook salmon fishery in both the ocean and the Trinity and Klamath rivers was also closed in 2017. Only 1,123 adult winter Chinook salmon returned to

11610-598: The emergency spillways, prompting the state and federal governments to repeal the limits they had imposed on the reservoir. Furthermore, the project allows a far smaller sustainable water yield than originally expected, and Reclamation calls the dam "a case study of all that can go wrong with a project". In response to these environmental problems, Congress passed in 1992 the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA), Title 34 of Public Law 102-575, to change water management practices in

11739-471: The entire operations of the CVP, and also generating additional power. However, the proposed height increase was fought over for many reasons. Raising the dam would cost several hundred million dollars and raise the price of irrigation water from Shasta Lake. It would drown most of the remaining land belonging to the Winnemem Wintu tribe—90 percent of whose land already lies beneath the surface of

11868-637: The entrance of the pump plant in order to catch fish that would otherwise end up in the Delta-Mendota Canal. A second canal, the Contra Costa Canal , captures freshwater near the central part of the delta, taking it 48 miles (77 km) southwards, distributing water to the Clayton and Ygnacio Canals in the process, and supplying water to Contra Loma Dam, eventually terminating at Martinez Reservoir. The CVP also has several dams on

11997-460: The flow of the river more efficiently, and to prevent flooding in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta where many water pump facilities for San Joaquin Valley aqueducts are located. The Keswick Dam functions as an afterbay (regulating reservoir) for the Shasta Dam, also generating power. The Sacramento Canals Division of the CVP takes water from the Sacramento River much farther downstream of

12126-495: The foothills of the Sierra Nevada , the Klamath Mountains and the California Coast Ranges , and passes about 7.4 million acre-feet (9.1 km ) of water annually through its canals. Of the water transported, about 5 million acre-feet (6.2 km ) goes to irrigate 3,000,000 acres (1,200,000 ha) of farmland, 600,000 acre-feet (0.74 km ) supplies municipal uses, and 800,000 acre-feet (0.99 km )

12255-662: The ground. Because of environmental concerns, the system was never completed. The CVP also operates a San Felipe Division to supply water to 63,500 acres (25,700 ha) of land in the Santa Clara Valley west of the Coast Ranges. San Justo Dam stores water diverted from San Luis Reservoir through the Pacheco Tunnel and Hollister Conduit, which travel through the Diablo Range . A separate canal,

12384-606: The impounded water to the Sacramento River system, where it could be diverted southwards. In the same year, State Engineer A.D. Edmonston proposed the Feather River Project, which proposed the damming of the Feather River , a tributary of the Sacramento River, for the same purpose. The Feather River was much more accessible than the North Coast rivers, but did not have nearly as much water. Under both of

12513-563: The lake—and flood several miles of the McCloud River , protected under National Wild and Scenic River status. Buildings, bridges, roads and other structures would have to be relocated. The added capacity of the reservoir would change flow fluctuations in the lower Sacramento River, and native fish populations, especially salmon, would suffer with the subsequent changes to the ecology of the river. New Melones Dam has come under even greater controversy than Shasta Dam, mainly because of

12642-580: The last three units installed in the 1980s. Once reaching the crest of the Tehachapis, the aqueduct runs through a series of tunnels to the Tehachapi Afterbay, where its flow is partitioned between West and East Branches. The Coastal Branch diverts about 48,000 acre⋅ft (0.059 km ) per year from the California Aqueduct to parts of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. The aqueduct stretches for 143 miles (230 km), and

12771-436: The late 1930s, and the last facilities were completed in the early 1970s. Other features of the project were never constructed, some lie partly finished, or are still awaiting authorization. Dec 2 - USBR regulations stipulate that water only be given out to farmers with 160 acres of land or less - see 4-7-1944 1951 Jan 3 - CVP and state agree to keep grasslands flooded to protect migratory birds Shasta Division consists of

12900-465: The moderately dry year of 2012 and the record California drought of 2013, the Department of Water Resources announced that the SWP would be making zero deliveries that year, the first time in the project's history, due to dangerously low snowpack and reservoir levels. On April 18, 2014, the Department of Water Resources increased the SWP allocation back to five percent and that level remained until

13029-609: The other Colorado River basin states to get Los Angeles to relinquish its share of the Colorado River. Historians largely attribute the success of the Burns-Porter Act and the State Water Project to major agribusiness lobbying, particularly by J.G. Boswell II of the J.G. Boswell cotton company. The bond was passed on an extremely narrow margin of 174,000 out of 5.8 million ballots cast. In 1966,

13158-602: The plans, a series of canals and pumps would carry the water south through the Central Valley to the foot of the Tehachapi Mountains , where it would pass through the Tehachapi Tunnel to reach Southern California. Calls for a comprehensive statewide water management system (complementing the extensive, but primarily irrigation-based Central Valley Project ) led to the creation of the California Department of Water Resources in 1956. The following year,

13287-455: The preliminary studies were compiled into the extensive California Water Plan, or Bulletin No. 3. The project was intended for "the control, protection, conservation, distribution, and utilization of the waters of California, to meet present and future needs for all beneficial uses and purposes in all areas of the state to the maximum feasible extent." California governor Pat Brown would later say it

13416-642: The problems associated with the CVP with programs like the Refuge Water Supply Program . In recent years, a combination of drought and regulatory decisions passed based on the Endangered Species Act of 1973 have forced Reclamation to turn off much of the water for the west side of the San Joaquin Valley in order to protect the fragile ecosystem in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and keep alive

13545-592: The process, eventually reaching canals that irrigates farms in the valley. Friant Dam crosses the San Joaquin River upstream of Mendota Pool, diverting its water southwards into canals that travel into the Tulare Lake area of the San Joaquin Valley, as far south as the Kern River . Finally, New Melones Lake , a separate facility, stores water flow of a San Joaquin River tributary for use during dry periods. Other smaller, independent facilities exist to provide water to local irrigation districts. The Central Valley Project

13674-517: The production and flexibility of California's water management system, yielding 470,000 to 640,000 acre⋅ft (0.58 to 0.79 km ) of new water per year. This project is being seriously considered by the Department of Water Resources, as California's water system is expected to face serious shortfalls of 2 million acre-feet (2.5 km ) per year by 2020. However, the project has been criticized for its high cost, and potential disruption of fish migration when large amounts of water are drawn from

13803-535: The project in its tunnel form during his second governorship (2011-2019). His successor, Gavin Newsom , has also supported the project. Supporters of the tunnel argue that water being drawn from the southern intakes creates problems for wildlife and changes the natural flow in these areas, which would be corrected by drawing water from farther north. Supporters also claim that the California levees are also vulnerable to earthquakes and directing water away from them protects

13932-411: The project's conflicts with federal and state limits and its impact on the watershed of the Stanislaus River . The original Melones Dam, submerged underneath New Melones Lake (hence the name New Melones Dam ) is the source of one of these problems. The disused Melones Dam blocks cold water at the bottom of the lake from reaching the river, especially in dry years when the surface of the lake is closer to

14061-550: The project. Unfortunately, because of insufficient money in the state's treasury and the coincidence with the Great Depression , California turned to the national government for funding to build the project. This resulted in several transfers of the project between California and the federal government, and between Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers. The first dams and canals of the project started going up in

14190-652: The reservoirs. Fishermen expressed concerns over the impact of the dams on the salmon runs of North Coast rivers, especially the Klamath – the largest Pacific coast salmon river south of the Columbia River . The project would have eliminated 98 percent of the salmon spawning grounds on the Klamath. California Governor Ronald Reagan refused to approve the Dos Rios project, citing economic insensibility and fraudulent claims made by project proponents. The flood control benefits, for example, were largely exaggerated;

14319-672: The rest of the network. California agriculture and related industries now directly account for 7% of the gross state product for which the CVP supplied water for about half. Many CVP operations have had considerable environmental consequences, including a decline in the salmon population of four major California rivers in the northern state, and the reduction of riparian zones and wetlands . Many historical sites and Native American tribal lands have been flooded by CVP reservoirs. In addition, runoff from intensive irrigation has polluted rivers and groundwater . The Central Valley Project Improvement Act , passed in 1992, intends to alleviate some of

14448-496: The river is dry because of diversions from Friant Dam and Millerton Lake . Even downstream of Mendota, where the Delta-Mendota Canal gives the river a new surge of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, irrigation runoff water, contaminated with pesticides and fertilizer , has caused the river to become heavily polluted. To make matters worse, efforts by the California Department of Fish and Game to route

14577-403: The river's natural flow must be left untouched in order for Trinity River salmon to survive. The lack of flow in the Trinity up to then was also a violation of the authorization that Congress made over the operation of the dam. The "...legislation required that enough be left in the Trinity for in-basin needs, including preservation of the salmon fishery." In the early years of the 21st century,

14706-431: The same purpose is under consideration in the form of two massive tunnels to be constructed as part of the $ 25 billion California Water Fix and Eco Restore project. Governor Jerry Brown strongly advocated for the project, but it was mired in controversy due to problems financing it and environmental concerns. Prior to the 1940s, water was drawn from the southern end of the Delta. Since then, various groups have lobbied for

14835-603: The state legislature continued to have the power to construct dams. California State Water Project The California State Water Project , commonly known as the SWP , is a state water management project in the U.S. state of California under the supervision of the California Department of Water Resources . The SWP is one of the largest public water and power utilities in the world, providing drinking water for more than 27 million people and generating an average of 6,500 GWh of hydroelectricity annually. However, as it

14964-427: The state's irrigation districts and public vs. private power. Its proponents ignored environmental concerns over its impacts, other than the outcome not damage the major stakeholders at that time. The Central Valley of California has gone through two distinct culturally driven land use eras. The first was the indigenous tribal period that lasted for thousands of years. Then came the arrival of Europeans, first by

15093-399: The storage capacity of Trinity Lake. The dam functions to store water during dry periods and release it downstream into the northern San Joaquin Valley according to water demand. The dam generates 279 MW of power with a peaking capacity of 300 MW. The CVP has a significant amount of facilities for storing and transporting water on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, in the foothills of

15222-421: The supply of water. Delta farmers, communities, and commercial salmon and bass fishermen are especially concerned about the tunnel. However, some Delta scientists disagree. The new proposed canal would transport 1 million acre-feet (1.2 km ) of water to Silicon Valley , southern California and the majority of it would be directed to the Central Valley , a location with political influence and interest in

15351-629: The water supply available for SWP entitlement holders and improving water quality in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. This project has previously arisen in several forms, including proposals for a Glenn Reservoir or the Glenn-Colusa Complex on nearby streams, which would also have been receiving reservoirs for water sent east through the Dos Rios Project's Grindstone Tunnel or other transfers from North Coast rivers. With its large storage capacity, Sites Reservoir would increase

15480-414: The water to develop new permanent crops, creating a dependency on SWP water that is technically part of Southern California's entitlement, This is now causing tensions as Southern California continues to increase its use of SWP water, decreasing the amount of surplus available to the system, especially in years of drought. In dry years, water pumped from the Delta creates a hazard to spring-run salmon . As

15609-674: The water-poor San Joaquin Valley and its surroundings by means of a series of canals, aqueducts and pump plants, some shared with the California State Water Project (SWP). Many CVP water users are represented by the Central Valley Project Water Association. In addition to water storage and regulation, the system has a hydroelectric capacity of over 2,000 megawatts , and provides recreation and flood control with its twenty dams and reservoirs. It has allowed major cities to grow along Valley rivers which previously would flood each spring, and transformed

15738-399: The western flank of the San Joaquin Valley through the California Aqueduct. The main section of the aqueduct stretches for 304 miles (489 km); it is composed mainly of concrete-lined canals but also includes 20.7 miles (33.3 km) of tunnels, 130.4 miles (209.9 km) of pipelines and 27 miles (43 km) of siphons. The aqueduct reaches a maximum width of 300 feet (91 m) and

15867-542: Was basically a variation of a contemporary Bureau of Reclamation project, the Klamath Diversion . A series of dams in these watersheds would shunt water through interbasin transfers into the Klamath River system. The centerpiece of the project would be a 15-million-acre-foot (19 km ) reservoir on the Klamath River – the largest man-made lake in California – from where the water would flow through

15996-521: Was being inundated: the limestone canyon behind the dam, the deepest of its kind in the United States, contained hundreds of archaeological and historic sites and one of California's best and most popular whitewater rafting runs. Thus the reservoir extended only to Parrot's Ferry Bridge, 9 mi (14 km) below its maximum upriver limit, until the El Niño event of 1982–1983, which filled it to capacity within weeks and even forced Reclamation to open

16125-458: Was rejected in 1982 due to environmental concerns. The Coastal Branch, which delivers water to coastal central California, was completed in 1997. The Feather River , a tributary of the Sacramento River , provides the primary watershed for the State Water Project. Runoff from the Feather River headwaters is captured in Antelope , Frenchman , and Davis reservoirs, which impound tributaries of

16254-698: Was the Dos Rios Project on the Eel River system, which would have involved constructing a gigantic dam on the Middle Fork of the Eel River, diverting water through the Grindstone Tunnel into the Sacramento Valley. Supporters of this project cited the disastrous Christmas flood of 1964 and the flood control benefits Dos Rios would provide to the Eel River basin. The Klamath and Dos Rios diversions were heavily opposed by local towns and Native American tribes, whose land would have been flooded under

16383-605: Was the first attempt at creating a Central Valley Project. In 1904, the Bureau of Reclamation (then the Reclamation Service) first became interested in creating such a water project, but did not get far involved until a series of droughts and related disasters occurred in the early 1920s. The State of California passed the Central Valley Project Act in 1933, which authorized Reclamation to sell revenue bonds in order to raise about $ 170 million for

16512-486: Was the world's largest water and power project when undertaken during Franklin D. Roosevelt 's New Deal public works agenda. The Project was the culmination of eighty years of political fighting over the state's most important natural resource - Water . The Central Valley of California lies to the west of the Sierra Nevada Mountains with its annual run-off draining into the Pacific Ocean through

16641-455: Was to "correct an accident of people and geography". The diversion of the North Coast rivers was abandoned in the plan's early stages after strong opposition from locals and concerns about the potential impact on the salmon in North Coast rivers. The California Water Plan would have to go ahead with the development of the Feather River alone, as proposed by Edmonston. The Burns-Porter Act of 1959 provided $ 1.75 billion of initial funding through

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