New monitoring stations will track subsidence along canal
Photo show new parallel canal needed due to subsidence
LINDSAY — Friant Water Authority (FWA) has hailed the California Department of Water Resources for its nearly $1.9 million investment in new monitoring infrastructure along the Friant-Kern Canal to strengthen real-time subsidence monitoring and help protect the canal’s long-term capacity and reliability.Work on three continuous GPS stations near Mileposts 98, 103 and 112, along with complementary multi-completion monitoring wells near Mileposts 103 and 112 was completed in September in southern Tulare County.
The stations measure changes in land surface elevation over time with millimeter-level precision, allowing DWR and FWA to track whether the ground surrounding the canal is sinking.This monitoring is particularly important through areas of the canal that continue to experience significant subsidence and where substantial investments have been made to restore lost conveyance capacity.
“The continuous GPS stations and multi-completion monitoring wells provided by DWR are a significant asset as we work to protect the Friant-Kern Canal from continued subsidence due to groundwater pumping, particularly through the Middle Reach,” said Katie Duncan, Senior Water Resources Engineer for Friant Water Authority. “This investment will provide real-time monitoring of land surface elevation coupled with critical groundwater head measurements, giving us important data to better understand subsidence trends and support meaningful groundwater management decisions and local policies that protect the long-term reliability of the Friant-Kern Canal.”
The Friant-Kern Canal is a critical component of the Central Valley Project, delivering water throughout the eastern San Joaquin Valley to irrigation districts, communities and thousands of family farms. Continued monitoring and management of subsidence is essential to protecting the canal’s ability to reliably convey water for generations to come.
The monitoring is critical to halt what has been a severe subsidence problem that limits how much of the capacity to move water has been compromised after the canal sunk twelve feet from its original height. That prompted a new parallel canal to built. Now water managers can check if the problem continues.