USDA deputy secretary visits Central Valley, tour focused on water conservation

FRENO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- US Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Xochitl Torres Small visited the Central Valley Thursday.

She met with Congressman Jim Costa and heard from local irrigation districts to discuss water-saving efforts to prepare the Valley for more frequent droughts.

Local officials calling the San Joaquin valley 'ground zero' for climate change caused droughts.

"As we plan for a new future, I am struck every single day by the fact that we all take the work that goes into our food for granted in the West, a huge part of that work is having the water to grow food."

Local leaders expressed their current situation when it comes to the Valley's water supply, and ideas they have for expanding storage.

"We've understood for a while now that we're depleting our aquifer. That's the problem with the water we continue to withdraw, and we've not been making deposits," says Congressman Jim Costa.

In the latest effort to make more deposits into the Valley's water storage, $3 million in federal funding is making its way to the region to expand rechargeable basins.

The group toured one basin located in Tulare County that will expand by about 40 acres, the project costing about $1 million.

Irrigation managers stressed to the Deputy Secretary how vital and effective these projects can be for water conservation.

"The great thing about basins is that we can purchase them, engineer them, permit them, and construct them really quickly, within about a 2-to 3-year period," says Bill Stretch, General Manager of Fresno's Irrigation District.

But while this funding is a critical step forward, experts say, it's just a drop in the bucket.

"What we're missing is money, so that was part of the message to the secretary today," says Stretch.

Twenty-five years ago, the Upper Kings River Districts had a few hundred acres of water basins, now they're over 1,200. This, still far from their 2040 goal.

"We've targeted 3,300 acres of additional recharge basins, which will cost about $350 million," says Stretch.

On top of this, helping agriculture basins are located near disadvantaged communities like one in Biola that helps supply that community with clean drinking water.

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