Flow a milestone for thirsty river
Alex Breitler
Stockton Record
03/17/2010
The San Joaquin River is flowing from Friant Dam near Fresno to the Delta, a symbolic milestone in a process to restore the normally dry stream.
The fact that it's news that a river runs from the mountains to the sea says something about the history of the San Joaquin.
The last time this happened was 2006, but only because officials were desperately trying to flush swollen Central Valley streams and prevent a flood.
This is the first time in more than a half-century that the river has flowed uninterrupted in a non-flood year, officials said. The river apparently connected with itself late last week at the confluence of the Merced River.
"Dead and buried rivers don't usually come back to life. This is an important moment," said Bill Jennings, head of Stockton-based California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.
A combination of flows released from Friant and runoff from recent storms pushed the river through normally dry stretches of channel upstream from the Merced. There is always water in the San Joaquin downstream of the Merced past Stockton.
The release of water for the restoration, which began last October, will test the river channel and determine if water will seep onto nearby farmland. That concern has caused some landowners to oppose the river's restoration.
Fish lost much of their spawning habitat when Friant Dam was built in the 1940s. Most of the river below the dam was diverted to farms. Environmentalists sued, and a settlement was reached in 2006. Spring-run Chinook salmon are to be re-established in the river by the end of 2012.
Next month, the small stream of water released from the dam will be jacked up to about 1,500 cubic feet per second, the highest yet, said Jason Phillips of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Then the river will gradually subside, although it is expected to keep its connection to the Delta at least through September.
Experimental flows will resume in 2011.
