Tulare Lake Basin Research Articles

Drought, water management, and agricultural livelihoods: Understanding human-ecological system management and livelihood strategies of farmer's in rural California

Mitigating impact between agricultural livelihoods and water conservation efforts in the face of significant drought requires a sophisticated understanding of policy efforts enacted to manage water supply and the logic of human livelihood decision-making. This case study extends literature on human-water decision-making in agricultural areas by using a political ecology framework to understand how and why farmers facing significant water shortages make livelihood decisions, and how such decisions are affected by broader socio-political contexts. Specifically, we focus on farmers' livelihood strategies in the Central San Joaquin Valley of California. Here, the effects of extreme and persistent drought have resulted in a resource management governance structure that forces farmer decision-making within the narrow bounds of the newly emerging California water policy. We argue that government public policy intervention has created a potential system of “big winners and big losers,” leading to three divergent strategies farmers adopt: Nimbility, Abandonment, and Policy Engagement. These findings raise questions about how policy interventions shape livelihood strategies of farmers in the Tulare Lake Basin and by extension other areas where public policy intervention is emerging to respond to decreased water supply resources.

Sustainability of Regional Groundwater Quality in Response to Managed Aquifer Recharge

AbstractGrowing demands on water supply worldwide have resulted in aquifer overdraft in many regions, especially in alluvial basins under intensive irrigation. This further leads to serious deterioration of groundwater quality. Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) has been shown to mitigate groundwater overdraft, but whether MAR can actually stabilize or reverse the ongoing declines in regional groundwater quality caused by non‐point sources has not been demonstrated. This study was intended to address the question by investigating impacts of different MAR strategies on regional groundwater quality. A geostatistical model was first used to characterize a heterogeneous alluvial aquifer system in a portion of the Tulare Lake Basin. Three‐dimensional numerical models were then employed to simulate groundwater flow and mass transport. Next, MAR strategies were applied in locations with different geological conditions or joint with different irrigation activities, and their performances were evaluated. Results demonstrate the potential of significant, long‐term benefits for regional groundwater quality by applying strategic, high‐intensity recharge operations on geologically favorable subregions. Siting MAR above the incised valley fill (IVF) deposit, a near‐surface paleochannel containing unusually coarse, high‐conductivity hydrofacies, leads to more extensive improvement in the groundwater quality in terms of salinity due to significant vertical flow and lateral outward flow from the IVF. Overall, decades would be required to alleviate groundwater quality concerns in the studied 189 km2 region. The simulations indicate that the deep concentrations remain below the secondary maximum contaminant level as the solute mass migrates downward with the prominent contribution from the attenuation via dispersion and matrix diffusion.

Anthropogenic basin closure and groundwater salinization (ABCSAL)

Global food systems rely on irrigated agriculture, and most of these systems in turn depend on fresh sources of groundwater. In this study, we demonstrate that groundwater development, even without overdraft, can transform a fresh, open basin into an evaporation dominated, closed-basin system, such that most of the groundwater, rather than exiting via stream baseflow and lateral subsurface flow, exits predominantly by evapotranspiration from irrigated lands. In these newly closed hydrologic basins, just as in other closed basins, groundwater salinization is inevitable because dissolved solids cannot escape, and the basin is effectively converted into a salt sink. We first provide a conceptual model of this process, called “Anthropogenic Basin Closure and groundwater SALinization” (ABCSAL). We examine the temporal dynamics of ABCSAL using the Tulare Lake Basin, California, as a case study for a large irrigated agricultural region with Mediterranean climate, overlying an unconsolidated sedimentary aquifer system. Even with modern water management practices that arrest historic overdraft, results indicate that shallow aquifers (36 m deep) exceed maximum contaminant levels for total dissolved solids on decadal timescales. Intermediate (132 m) and deep aquifers (187 m), essential for drinking water and irrigated crops, are impacted within two to three centuries. Hence, ABCSAL resulting from groundwater development constitutes a largely unrecognized constraint on groundwater sustainable yield on similar timescales to aquifer depletion in the Tulare Lake Basin, and poses a serious challenge to groundwater quality sustainability, even when water levels are stable. Results suggest that agriculturally intensive groundwater basins worldwide may be susceptible to ABCSAL.

Enhancing Soil and Water Assessment Tool Snow Prediction Reliability with Remote-Sensing-Based Snow Water Equivalent Reconstruction Product for Upland Watersheds in a Multi-Objective Calibration Process

Precipitation occurs in two basic forms defined as liquid state and solid state. Different from rain-fed watershed, modeling snow processes is of vital importance in snow-dominated watersheds. The seasonal snowpack is a natural water reservoir, which stores snow water in winter and releases it in spring and summer. The warmer climate in recent decades has led to earlier snowmelt, a decline in snowpack, and change in the seasonality of river flows. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) could be applied in the snow-influenced watershed because of its ability to simultaneously predict the streamflow generated from rainfall and from the melting of snow. The choice of parameters, reference data, and calibration strategy could significantly affect the SWAT model calibration outcome and further affect the prediction accuracy. In this study, SWAT models are implemented in four upland watersheds in the Tulare Lake Basin (TLB) located across the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains. Three calibration scenarios considering different calibration parameters and reference datasets are applied to investigate the impact of the Parallel Energy Balance Model (ParBal) snow reconstruction data and snow parameters on the streamflow and snow water-equivalent (SWE) prediction accuracy. In addition, the watershed parameters and lapse rate parameters-led equifinality is also evaluated. The results indicate that calibration of the SWAT model with respect to both streamflow and SWE reference data could improve the model SWE prediction reliability in general. Comparatively, the streamflow predictions are not significantly affected by differently lumped calibration schemes. The default snow parameter values capture the extreme high flows better than the other two calibration scenarios, whereas there is no remarkable difference among the three calibration schemes for capturing the extreme low flows. The watershed and lapse rate parameters-induced equifinality affects the flow prediction more (Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) varies between 0.2–0.3) than the SWE prediction (NSE varies less than 0.1). This study points out the remote-sensing-based SWE reconstruction product as a promising alternative choice for model calibration in ungauged snow-influenced watersheds. The streamflow-reconstructed SWE bi-objective calibrated model could improve the prediction reliability of surface water supply change for the downstream agricultural region under the changing climate.

Water shortage risks from perennial crop expansion in California’s Central Valley

California’s Central Valley is one of the world’s most productive agricultural regions. Its high-value fruit, vegetable, and nut crops rely on surface water imports from a vast network of reservoirs and canals as well as groundwater, which has been substantially overdrafted to support irrigation. The region has undergone a shift to perennial (tree and vine) crops in recent decades, which has increased water demand amid a series of severe droughts and emerging regulations on groundwater pumping. This study quantifies the expansion of perennial crops in the Tulare Lake Basin, the southern region of the Central Valley with limited natural water availability. A gridded crop type dataset is compiled on a 1 mi2 spatial resolution from a historical database of pesticide permits over the period 1974–2016 and validated against aggregated county-level data. This spatial dataset is then analyzed by irrigation district, the primary spatial scale at which surface water supplies are determined, to identify trends in planting decisions and agricultural water demand over time. Perennial crop acreage has nearly tripled over this period, and currently accounts for roughly 60% of planted area and 80% of annual revenue. These trends show little relationship with water availability and have been driven primarily by market demand. From this data, we focus on the increasing minimum irrigation needs each year to sustain perennial crops. Results indicate that under a range of plausible future regulations on groundwater pumping ranging from 10% to 50%, water supplies may fail to consistently meet demands, increasing losses by up to 30% of annual revenues. More broadly, the datasets developed in this work will support the development of dynamic models of the integrated water-agriculture system under uncertain climate and regulatory changes to understand the combined impacts of water supply shortages and intensifying irrigation demand.

Hydro-economic analysis of groundwater pumping for irrigated agriculture in California’s Central Valley, USA

As in many places, groundwater in California (USA) is the major alternative water source for agriculture during drought, so groundwater’s availability will drive some inevitable changes in the state’s water management. Currently, agricultural, environmental, and urban uses compete for groundwater, resulting in substantial overdraft in dry years with lowering of water tables, which in turn increases pumping costs and reduces groundwater pumping capacity. In this study, SWAP (an economic model of agricultural production and water use in California) and C2VISim (the California Department of Water Resources groundwater model for California’s Central Valley) are connected. This paper examines the economic costs of pumping replacement groundwater during drought and the potential loss of pumping capacity as groundwater levels drop. A scenario of three additional drought years continuing from 2014 show lower water tables in California’s Central Valley and loss of pumping capacity. Places without access to groundwater and with uncertain surface-water deliveries during drought are the most economically vulnerable in terms of crop revenues, employment and household income. This is particularly true for Tulare Lake Basin, which relies heavily on water imported from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Remote-sensing estimates of idle agricultural land between 2012 and 2014 confirm this finding. Results also point to the potential of a portfolio approach for agriculture, in which crop mixing and conservation practices have substantial roles.

Agroeconomic Analysis of Nitrate Crop Source Reductions

AbstractThis paper presents an agroeconomic approach to assess the economic impact of improving nitrogen and irrigation management practices in California’s Tulare Lake Basin and the Salinas Valley. The approach employs a self-calibrated mathematical programming model with a constant elasticity of substitution production function and two nests: one for irrigation and one for nitrogen. Agricultural crop yields are maintained as a worst-case for improving nitrogen use efficiency. Small reductions (<25%) in nitrate load to groundwater can be achieved at relatively low costs. Load reductions of 50% may require more costly nitrogen management practices and a broader education strategy with higher reductions in farm net revenues and irrigated area. Other policy instruments such as a tax and levees on applied nitrogen may help reduce groundwater load and raise revenues for alternate drinking water supplies in affected areas. The model also provides further evidence that it is possible to integrate agronomic and ...

Is Regulation of Water a Constitutional Taking?

This article addresses the issue of how the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment should be applied to regulatory restrictions affecting water use. The article contends, contrary to some recent commentary and court decisions, that there is no justification for the view that regulation of water should be viewed as more likely to produce takings liability than regulations involving other natural resources. Indeed, the article contends that, if anything, the extensive and varied “background principles” limiting private property interests in water should make takings liability less likely in the arena of water regulation than in other arenas. The article describes the tortured history of this issue in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit: starting with Judge John Wiese’s 2001 decision in Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District v. United States, holding that a restriction on water use should be analyzed as a per se physical-occupation taking; proceeding to Judge Wiese’s 2008 decision in Casitas Municipal Water District v. United States, repudiating his Tulare Lake takings theory; and ending with the 2009 Federal Circuit decision in Casitas embracing the novel, relatively narrower theory that a regulatory mandate that water be passed through a fishway should be treated as per se physical taking. The article explains why, in light of precedent and basic principles of takings jurisprudence, Judge Wiese erred in Tulare Lake but corrected his mistake in Casitas. The article then explains why the Federal Circuit erred in adopting the narrower theory that a regulatory mandate to pass water through a fishway should be viewed as a per se physical taking. This part of the article focuses on two aspects of the issue essentially ignored by the Federal Circuit: the longstanding understanding in takings jurisprudence that negative restrictions on action and affirmative mandates to take action are subject to the same basic takings analysis, and the large volume of precedent, mostly dating from the 19th century, rejecting property rights challenges to government orders that dam owners construct fishways to facilitate fish passage.

Emergent insect production in post-harvest flooded agricultural fields used by waterbirds

Abstract California's Tulare Lake Basin (TLB) is one of the most important waterbird areas in North America even though most wetlands there have been converted to cropland. To guide management programs promoting waterbird beneficial agriculture, which includes flooding fields between growing periods, we measured emergence rates of insects, an important waterbird food, in three crop types (tomato, wheat, alfalfa) in the TLB relative to water depth and days flooded during August–October, 2003 and 2004. We used corrected Akaike's Information Criterion values to compare a set of models that accounted for our repeated measured data. The best model included crop type and crop type interacting with days flooded and depth flooded. Emergence rates (mg m−2 day−1) were greater in tomato than wheat or alfalfa fields, increased with days flooded in alfalfa and tomato but not wheat fields, and increased with water depth in alfalfa and wheat but not tomato fields. To investigate the relationship between the range of die...

Topographic response to mantle lithosphere removal in the southern Sierra Nevada region, California

Geological studies of mantle xenoliths entrained in late Neogene‐Quaternary lavas from the southern Sierra Nevada region and regional geophysical studies suggest that the highdensity mantle lithosphere that formed beneath the Sierra Nevada batholith in conjunction with arc magmatism is being convectively removed as a ‘‘drip’’ structure. This structure, as imaged seismically, is roughly cylindrical in shape with a diameter of ;100 km, and extends to ;225 km depth. Centered above this structure is a region ;120 km in diameter that is undergoing active subsidence relative to adjacent regions. Such subsidence is seen in the active fluvial-alluvial sediment flooding of mountainous topography of the southwestern Sierra and in the development of the adjacent Tulare Lake basin of the San Joaquin Valley. Dynamic modeling of such upper-mantle drip structures predicts a phase of overlying surface subsidence during the most vigorous phase of drip formation. The southern Sierra upper mantle drip and the overlying crust appear to be in this phase of their dynamically coupled evolution.

Sublethal effects in avocet and stilt hatchlings from selenium-contaminated sites

Excess selenium (Se) in the aquatic food chain is embryotoxic and teratogenic to avocets, stilts, and other waterbirds. American avocet (Recurvirostra americana) and black-necked stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) eggs were collected from three sites in the Tulare Lake Basin of California, USA, and hatched in the laboratory. These sites included the Tulare Lake Drainage District-north (TLDD-N, water 2.5 ppb Se), TLDD-south (TLDD-S, water 8.6 ppb Se), and Westfarmers (WF, water 190 ppb Se). Highest egg Se concentrations occurred at WF (geometric mean 31.4 ppm dry wt for avocets and 20.5 ppm dry wt for stilts). Mean egg Se concentrations were 6.7 ppm for avocets and 8.4 ppm for stilts at TLDD-S, and 3.3 ppm for avocets and 2.3 ppm for stilts at TLDD-N. Hatching success and incidence of malformations did not differ among sites, but yolk sac-free hatching weights and bone lengths were less for avocets at the WF site, whereas liver weights and liver to body weight ratios were greater at that site. With increasing Se concentration, oxidative stress was most apparent in avocet hatchlings from WF: hepatic glutathione (GSH) peroxidase activity increased, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity decreased, and oxidized glutathione (GSSG) concentration as well as the ratio of GSSG to reduced GSH concentration increased. In stilts, hepatic GSH concentration was lower in WF hatchlings. In conclusion, our findings of Se-impaired embryo growth and hepatotoxicity in avocet hatchlings suggest that oxidative stress observed in hatchlings may be related to these biological effects and may serve as a potential bioindicator of subsequent impaired functions.

Use and Abandonment of Surface Impoundments for the Disposal of Oil-Field Produced Waters: ABSTRACT

Surface impoundments, or sumps, are utilized for the disposal of oil-field produced water through percolation and evaporation in California's San Joaquin basin. Environmental concerns have resulted in increased regulation of sumps. Surface disposal of produced waters into unlined sumps is permitted where the quality of the produced water meets the stated criteria in the applicable basin plan as regulated by the local regional water quality control board. In the San Joaquin Basin, surface disposal is initially governed by the Tulare Lake basin plan (5D). A basin plan permits disposal into sumps of produced waters which do not exceed a maximum electrical conductivity, chlorides content, or boron content in areas which overlie useable groundwater. If the produced water exceeds any one of the maximum constituent levels, regulation of surface disposal passes to Title 23, California code of Regulations, sections 2,510-2,601 (subchapter 15). Subchapter 15 regulates the use and abandonment of lined surface impoundments designed to dispose of produced water through evaporation. Subchapter 15 requires the operator to conduct a site hydrogeologic characterization, install a groundwater monitoring system, and construct and enclose the surface impoundment in accordance with specified criteria. Sumps can be utilized in areas which do not meet the criteriamore » of the appropriate basin plan, or subchapter 15, where the operator demonstrates that surface percolation of the produced waters will not degrade underlying useable groundwater. Abandonment of unlined sumps includes removal and disposal of all free liquids, analysis of sludges and soils beneath the sumps, removal of contaminated sludges and soils, analysis of soils after removal of contaminated sludges and soils, backfilling of the sump, and revegetation of the site.« less

Infinidad de Gentiles : Aboriginal Population in the Tulare Basin

The Tulare Lake Basin was capable of sustaining a large number of aboriginal inhabitants. This conclusion is based on a refined reconstruction of the aboriginal environment and a reevaluation of aboriginal subsistence ecology. In addition to demonstrating a larger carrying capacity than heretofore recognized, the paper challenges some long-held assumptions concerning demographic restraints on California Indians and their adaptation to the environment.

Arsenic in Ground Water of the Western United States

ABSTRACTNatural occurrences of ground water with moderate (10 to 50 micrograms per liter) to high (greater than 50 micrograms per liter) concentrations of arsenic are common throughout much of the Western United States. High concentrations of arsenic are generally associated with one of four geochemical environments: (1) basin‐fill deposits of alluvial‐lacustrine origin, particularly in semiarid areas, (2) volcanic deposits, (3) geothermal systems, and (4) uranium and gold‐mining areas. These findings are based on an extensive literature review, compilation of unpublished reports and data, and the review of data bases containing more than 7,000 analyses of ground‐water samples for arsenic. In the first two environments, arsenic appears to be associated with sediments derived, in part, from volcanic rocks of intermediate to acidic composition. Dissolved arsenic concentrations in water from volcanic aquifers in the same regions, however, may be low (less than 10 micrograms per liter). Solid phases (minerals, amorphous solids, and sedimentary organic matter) that supply the dissolved arsenic have not been identified in most areas. Alluvial and lacustrine sedimentary deposits appear to be an important source of arsenic in volcanic areas (such as Lane County, Oregon) and in areas underlain by basin‐fill deposits (such as Carson Desert in Nevada and the Tulare Lake basin in California). Mobilization of arsenic in sedimentary aquifers may be, in part, a result of changes in the geochemical environment due to agricultural irrigation. In the deeper subsurface, elevated arsenic concentrations are associated with compaction caused by groundwater withdrawals.

CONTROLLING GROUND WATER DEGRADATION IN THE TULARE LAKE BASIN1

ABSTRACT This study examined the feasibility of extending the Accelerated Salt Transport (ASTRAN) method of groud water quality control to a complex, closed basin which is experiencing ground water quality degradation from irrigated agriculture (e.g., the Tulare Lake Basin in the Southern portion of the California Central Valley). A linear programming model was constructed and parametric analysis conducted which produced results with a “general appraisal” (or “level B”) degree of accuracy. The study concluded that a drainage water export drain is required in order to implement a long‐term solution but that ground water degradation can be mitigated by a combination of the ASTRAN method and other measures even with existing entitlements and legal constraints.

Vanishing Landscapes: Land and Life in the Tulare Lake Basin

Vanishing Landscapes: Land and Life in the Tulare Lake Basin

Review: Vanishing Landscapes: Land and Life in the Tulare Lake Basin, by William L. Preston

Book Review| April 01 1982 Review Vanishing Landscapes: Land and Life in the Tulare Lake BasinWilliam L. Preston Abraham Hoffman Abraham Hoffman Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar The Public Historian (1982) 4 (2): 120–122. https://doi.org/10.2307/3377370 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Abraham Hoffman; Review. The Public Historian 1 April 1982; 4 (2): 120–122. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/3377370 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentThe Public Historian Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1982 The Regents of the University of California Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Salyer Land Co. v. Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District: Opening the Floodgates in Local Special Government Elections

Salyer Land Co. v. Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District: Opening the Floodgates in Local Special Government Elections

The Leconte Thrashers of the San Joaquin

In February, 1932, the writer and his companion, Mr. Ward C. Russell, found themselves on a brief trip south along the west side of the southern (upper) San Joaquin Valley, in west-central California. In attempting to trace the local distribution of certain mammals and birds in that territory, enough new facts concerning the Leconte Thrasher (Toxostoma lecontei) came to our attention to appear to warrant this special contribution on that species. In coming south Mendota, Fresno County, we first encountered the Leconte Thrasher about seven miles due east of Coalinga, in the same county, near the highway leading toward Tulare and about where Polvadero Gap is marked on the Coalinga sheet, U. S. G. S. Here Mr. Russell obtained a breeding male and heard or saw at least three others, the morning of February 21; they were in a tract of large-sized atriplex, or kind of salt-bush, along an arroyo. This is about where Goldman (1908, p. 205) found the species in 1907. He met with it from near Huron west to the Arroyo Los and collected specimens, both adults and full-grown young, June 29 to July 1. Human activities in the oil region immediately around Coalinga, including the arroyo Los Gatos Creek, have doubtless resulted unfavorably to the birdlife native there; at any rate, we saw no promising thrasher ground close around Coalinga. Also our own rapid reconnoissance of the immediate vicinity of Huron, southwestern Fresno County, failed to show appropriate ground for Leconte Thrashers, although there was evidence that tracts of atriplex brush formerly existed there. But there remains much good-looking Leconte Thrasher country about midway between Coalinga and Huron, and our sample was probably a fairly extensive population of the species there. This neighborhood, then, marks the northernmost limit of the range of the species west of the Sierra Nevada (see map, fig. 21). In our zigzagging about over the Tulare Lake basin, now throughout, we found no trace of this species; nor, in proceeding farther south, did we see any favorable ground for it till we approached Lost Hills, Kern County. Here, our route again cut into the piedmont belt of atriplex, good-looking for the bird in question, which probably extends with some interruptions southeast Coalinga along the entire west side of the Tulare Lake basin. But we did not stop to test the supposition, proceeding on to McKittrick. Here, within two miles northeast of this oiltown, in western Kern County, somewhat off the highway leading towards Bakersfield, we made a three-night dry camp, February 22 to 24, inclusive; and we obtained there the materials upon which most of the succeeding account is based. This locality (two miles east and northeast of McKittrick) is at about 1000 feet altitude, on ground sloping gently down northeastwardly toward Buena Vista Slough, with low hills close by to the west and south. It is in the focus of the rain-shadow the coast ranges-excessively and of desert aspect. Despite recent rains, copious for this place, much dry-surfaced bare ground was in sight. The new green stuff was restricted to the low places along draws or washes, to shady sides of hills, to spots which had been worked by burrowing rodents, and to patches beneath and close about bushes. Even though it was yet February, with unusually heavy snow mantling the mountains to the east, south and west of us, the mid-day sunshine was powerfully warming.