Water Ways

DROUGHT: YEAR 3

STATE AND FEDERAL RESERVOIRS are at their lowest levels since 1992. Snowpack on April 30 was 66% of average. Compounding this are regulations to protect endangered fish species, which curtail pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

About 250,000 acres of almonds on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley that receive water from the State Water Project and the Federal Central Valley Project are affected by severe cutbacks in deliveries.

In response, almond growers are making tough and often expensive choices: fallowing annual crop acreage in order to divert available water to almonds; employing stringent deficit irrigation to keep the trees alive where available water for almonds is very restricted; using carryover allotments; withdrawing “banked” water; transferring water; and removing older, less productive orchards.

Twenty-five years of Almond Board-funded irrigation research is providing information and insights to help growers through this tough time. This includes advances in irrigation scheduling and management, using drip or micro sprinklers, and deficit irrigation scheduling. Furthermore, current research is focusing on assessing long-term tree responses to various canopy reduction scenarios, application of protective films, and actual water requirements for tree survival.

The Almond Board Web site provides a portal to the UC Drought management Web site and notes from recent presentations by UC researchers on almond orchard management and irrigation practices under drought conditions.