California farmers flood fields to boost groundwater basin
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Last updated 3/28/2023 at 4:22am
Andrew Innerarity/California Department of Water Resources via AP
In this photo provided by the California Department of Water Resources, Don Cameron, general manager of Terranova Ranch, poses as recharge water stands in this fallow field at Terranova as part of a groundwater recharge system designed to divert floodwater from the Kings River in Fresno County, on March 13, 2023. (Andrew Innerarity/California Department of Water Resources via AP)
A field that has long grown tomatoes, peppers, and onions now looks like a wind-whipped ocean as farmer Don Cameron seeks to capture the runoff from a freakishly wet year in California to replenish the groundwater basin that is his only source to water his crops.
Taking some tomatoes out of production for a year is an easy choice if it means boosting future water supplies for his farm about 35 miles (56 kilometers) southwest of Fresno. He's pumping 300 acre-feet a day - enough to supply hundreds of households for a year - from the gushing North Fork of the Kings River onto former vegetable...
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