CALIFORNIA - As California adjusts to the influx of water received this past winter, officials have closed a massive pumping station for repairs that transports water to a large part of Southern California. Crews spotted erosion along the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and forecast it will take at least a month to make necessary repairs to its intake reservoir, according to the Sacramento Bee.
State officials said those reliant on the water source won’t see supply shortages. The California Department of Water Resources’ Doug Carlson stated that demand from farms and cities is relatively low this time of year, and that so long as the erosion can be fixed in the next 30 to 45 days, there is enough water in the system that neither state nor federal water users are concerned for a shortage.
Carlson emphasized that the shutdown and repairs can be completed without harming south state water deliveries, the report noted. The San Luis Reservoir in Merced County is currently flowing, with officials confident it can sustain deliveries to Southern California and its hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland that look to the water normally shipped down the California Aqueduct.
Additionally, the federal U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s nearby pumping facility, while less powerful, can connect to the California Aqueduct through a connector canal. If necessary, the state could ask for this as an additional resource.
The repairs will be paid for by State Water Project contractors, Carlson stated, which will likely be “a few million dollars” using concrete injections. AndNowUKnow will continue to follow updates on this and other water news that could affect the produce industry.
