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Water
Water is needed to help plants grow. This water is developed high in the mountains as snow and rain, stored in reservoirs and delivered over the growing season to farmers to grow food we need to eat. Farmers also pump groundwater when there is less water from the mountains or stored in the reservoirs that can be delivered to them through canals and pipelines.
How Lindmore ID Gets Water
Federal Water Contract
Lindmore Irrigation District has a perpetual water contract with the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). This water is developed in the San Joaquin River (SJR) and delivered from Millerton Reservoir (Friant Dam, Friant CA), down the Friant-Kern Canal to pipes owned and operated by the District. This water then flows to the District’s member growers.
Exchange Contract
The US Bureau of Reclamation acquired the rights to all river water on the San Joaquin River for the purposes of diverting water to the east side of the San Joaquin Valley. That acquisition was accomplished by an Exchange Contract with downstream landowners who agreed to receive waters from the Sacramento River in lieu of the San Joaquin River supply.
Farming under SGMA
California is blessed with perfect climate and soil and access to water to grow many different and important food and fiber crops. In this District we grow citrus, grapes, nuts, olives, dairy, silage, berries, cotton, and more.
Did you know?
Tulare County is the largest agricultural producing county in the entire nation. Also, agriculture is the largest private employer in the county.
Saving Groundwater
Our groundwater usage must be kept in check in order to maintain fresh and safe groundwater for our future. Lindmore Irrigation District is doing its part to correct groundwater overdraft and protect farming on our area. check soil suitability on the groundwater map below to see how effective groundwater recharge is in your area.
Evapotranspiration
According to UC Davis researchers, the key to agricultural water conservation is to reach a crop’s evapotranspiration (ET) value.
Watering past the ET value of a crop becomes inefficient because crops no longer take up excess water.
DWR Suggestions
The Department of Water Resources posted some suggested conservation methods on their website at water.ca.gov.
Irrigation Scheduling
Deciding when and how much water to apply to a field has a significant impact on the total amount of water used by the crop water use efficiency and irrigation efficiency. Using a more scientific approach to scheduling has generally been shown to decrease the amount of water applied while improving yield.
Irrigation System Improvements
Irrigation system improvement involves modifying the irrigation method or use of hardware and software to properly apply water to the field while minimizing water losses. For example improved furrows, combination of furrow and sprinkler, and changing from surface irrigation (flood, furrow and border check) to pressurized systems (sprinkler, drip, microirrigation). This increases uniformity and decreases applied water.