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Underground water banks tackle drought

Posted by: Maven on May 11, 2009 at 5:50 pm

From the Western Farm Press:

Here’s an idea you can take to the bank: Saving water from a rainy day can help farming operations — as well as municipalities — get through the dry ones.

Excess water, much of it transferred to aquifers underground and out of view, is helping meet demand in California during a third drought year marked again by cutbacks in deliveries from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Much of the water from wet years would otherwise flood farmland or go out to sea.

Players in the underground water banking business range from a family farming operation on Fresno County’s West Side to huge operations in Kern County associated with the Kern County Water Agency.

It’s unknown how many water banks — underground or otherwise — are in the state. Some say it could number over two dozen.

But the principle for their operation is basically the same as for conventional financial institutions. “It’s like storing money,” said Jim Beck, manager of the Kern County Water Agency, Bakersfield, Calif. “When you have a lot, you put it where you have access when you’re short money. The general philosophy is that we can deposit water in times of plenty.”

The agency is associated with 18 different water banking operations. “There are more and more being developed all the time,” Beck said.

Read more from the Western Farm Press by clicking here.

May 11, 2009 · Filed Under Water Banking

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