A downpour did not deter media members from attending a recent press briefing in a Modesto almond orchard highlighting a groundwater recharge project funded by the Almond Board of California (ABC) in partnership with UC Davis and Sustainable Conservation.
Modesto almond grower Nick Blom, who sits on the board of the Modesto Irrigation District, hosted reporters from the Los Angeles Times, San Jose Mercury News, Modesto Bee, Sacramento Bee, Capital Public Radio and CBS-TV 13, who came to report about the study aimed at recharging the aquifer by flooding orchards during the winter.
UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Roger Duncan, UC Davis hydrologist Dr. Helen Dahlke, and Dr. Ken Shackel, a professor in the UC Davis plant sciences department, outlined how the three 5-acre plots in the study will help them answer questions such as the following: Is the water clean enough? Will it drown the trees? Could it introduce waterborne diseases or make trees more vulnerable to insect pests?
The water for the research project comes from Modesto city storm drains via a Modesto Irrigation District canal that usually is idle in winter. What Blom didn't divert to the test plots will flow downstream to other farms and eventually back to the Tuolumne River, which joins the San Joaquin River nearby.
The Almond Board is funding similar recharge studies in Merced and Fresno counties at a total investment of $210,000. "Almond orchards have good soil characteristics, and water delivery systems are already in place,” said Bob Curtis, director, Agriculture Affairs, Almond Board of California. “Winter flooding should actually benefit the trees while replenishing groundwater to benefit us all."
