Thursday January 4, 2018
Manteca Bulletin –
Research aimed at boosting the population of threatened fish as well as assuring future water deliveries for South County farms and cities continues on the Stanislaus River.
The stakes of the research financed by the South San Joaquin Irrigation District and Oakdale Irrigation District are high. And they aren’t just limited to the Stanislaus River watershed. Research being conducted by the highly regarded FISHBIO firm with a worldwide reputation for fishery restoration that’s being funded by the two districts to the tune of $1 million a year will also benefit the future of the Tuolumne and Merced watersheds.
The stakes include:
The future survival of Chinook salmon and steelhead fish.
The potential of not being able to farm 132,000 acres now irrigated in the Northern San Joaquin Valley.
120,000 acre feet of water SSJID and OID customers including the cities of Manteca, Tracy, and Lathrop could forfeit in a normal year with significantly larger cutbacks during drought years.