https://www.ppic.

org/publication/water-stress-and-a-changing-san-joaquin-valley/

Throughout our lives, we have access to food, water, and agriculture. Due to valleys, we are
able to have such advantages that contribute to our everyday lives. Imagine how life would
be without the accessibilities and advantages we are given today? Unfortunately, it could be
a possibility that this situation would be put into place rather than imagined. The San Joaquin
Valley contains the most agriculture in California, as well as it being a top contributor to
production of the nation's food supply. It brings greater abundance to productive farmland
than other local resources for irrigation, containing some of the richest farmland in the U.S.
The valley produces a lot of crops in California that are accessible for Californians to use.
We want to be able to keep this advantage in California, but it may be a challenge. Recently,
the valley underwent a drought causing vulnerability to water scarcity and declining
groundwater reserves. Since the mid-1980’s, groundwater has been used more than
replenished, which is groundwater overdraft. This has greatly contributed to increased
pumping costs, sinking lands, dry wells, and declining reliability of the vital drought reserve.
This problem has brought attention to many people. The Sustainable Groundwater Act of
2014 requires communities and valley farms to balance their groundwater basins by 2040.
Given all of this information on The San Joaquin Valley’s water shortening, there is little
awareness to make a change to this problem. Researchers have found solutions that will
need to be put into place in order to make a change. With my research, a major contribution
that can positively impact this is to expand usable supplies for The San Joaquin Valley. This
means to capture and store runoff that is local in the groundwater basins and to reuse the
water as well as investing in larger infrastructure such as Delta Conveyance. Water that can
be reused is rain water and water from runoff. Recycling the water can help so that the valley
can lessen its water shortage problems and continue producing agriculture. Larger
infrastructure can contribute to improvement of water conveyance from the delta, which
helps to convey water for the long term. I’ve found that recycling water from rain and runoff
impacts agriculture production greatly, especially in times of a drought. It is efficient due to
recycling being an efficient way to gain necessities to use in a time of need. I’ve also
discovered that Delta Conveyance has contributed to lessening water loss caused by natural
disasters. Imagine how life would be without the accessibilities and advantages that we are
given today? If we take part in preventing this thought from becoming reality by using these
contribution strategies, that situation will not be a reality.