Expanding the Availability of Water for Almond Orchards Through Groundwater Recharge

Josette Lewis is Chief Scientific Officer with the Almond Board of California. She said efficient water use may entail recharging the groundwater and of course that's whenever a grower has the water to do it with.

“We've been funding research on this for some time and are now working on collecting more examples from growers and really refining that research to help provide recommendations to growers, especially due to the fact that at the sustainable groundwater management act is coming head on,” noted Lewis.

She said the Almond Board is trying to help educate and inform growers about potential opportunities to flood almond orchards during the off-season or early in the year when floodwaters might be present and available. And of course that's during wetter years

“Bank water for the future by storing it in the ground water that will help both growers and the groundwater basin ensure that they might have water saved away in the ground for dry years,” Lewis said.