Editing Central Valley Project (section)

{{short description|Flood control, energy production, and water conveyance infrastructure in California}}
{{good article}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox
|title        = Central Valley Project
|image        = [[File:Central valley project-01.png|250px|alt=]]
|image2       = [[File:CVPSouthernCanalsUSBR.jpg|255px|alt=]]
|caption      = Map showing CVP facilities in the state of California.
|caption2 = Map of CVP canal system in the San Joaquin Valley. CVP aqueducts are in blue while SWP aqueducts are in red.
|headerstyle  = background:#eee;
|header1 = General statistics
|label2 = Begun
|data2 = 1933
|label3  = Storage dams
|data3   = [[Auburn Dam|Auburn]] (canceled)<br>Contra Loma<br>[[Folsom Dam|Folsom]]<br>[[Friant Dam|Friant]]<br>Funks<br>[[New Melones Dam|New Melones]]<br>[[San Justo Dam|San Justo]]<br>[[San Luis Dam|San Luis]]<br>[[Shasta Dam|Shasta]]<br>[[Sly Park Dam|Sly Park]]<br>[[Trinity Dam|Trinity]]<br>[[Whiskeytown Dam|Whiskeytown]]
|label4=Additional dams
|data4=Camp Creek Diversion<br>County Line (unbuilt)<br>[[Keswick Dam|Keswick]]<br>[[Lewiston Dam (California)|Lewiston]]<br>Little Panoche<br>Los Baños<br>[[Nimbus Dam|Nimbus]]<br>[[Red Bluff Diversion Dam|Red Bluff]]<br>[[O'Neill Dam|O'Neill]]<br>[[Spring Creek Dam|Spring Creek]]<br>[[Sugar Pine Dam|Sugar Pine]]
|label5=Power plants
|data5=Friant (25 MW)<br>Folsom minha (199 MW)<br>Judge Francis Carr (154 MW)<br> Keswick (117 MW)<br>New Melones (300 MW)<br>Nimbus (7.7 MW)<br>Shasta (676 MW)<br>Spring Creek (180 MW)<br>Trinity (140 MW)<br>[[Gianelli Power Plant|William R. Gianelli]] (424 MW)
|label6 = Canals
|data6= {{convert|643.6|mi|abbr=on}}
|header7  = Operations
|label8 = Storage capacity
|data8   = {{convert|13410683|acre.ft|dam3}}
|label9 = Annual water yield
|data9 = {{convert|7000000|acre.ft|dam3}}
|label10 = Land irrigated
|data10 = {{convert|3000000|acre}}
|label11 = Total generation capacity
|data11 = 2,254 [[Megawatt|MW]]
|label12 = Total annual generation
|data12=5.18 [[Terawatt hour|TWh]] (2004)
|belowstyle = background:#ddf;
|below = 
}}

The '''Central Valley Project''' ('''CVP''') is a federal power and [[water management]] project in the [[U.S. state]] of [[California]] under the supervision of the [[United States Bureau of Reclamation]] (USBR). It was devised in 1933 in order to provide [[irrigation]] and municipal water to much of [[Central Valley (California)|California's Central Valley]]—by regulating and storing water in reservoirs in the northern half of the state (once considered water-rich but suffering water-scarce conditions more than half the year in most years), and transporting it to the water-poor [[San Joaquin Valley]] and its surroundings by means of a series of canals, aqueducts and pump plants, some shared with the [[California State Water Project]] (SWP). Many CVP water users are represented by the Central Valley Project Water Association.

In addition to water storage and regulation, the system has a [[hydroelectric power|hydroelectric]] capacity of over 2,000 [[megawatt]]s, and provides [[recreation]] and [[flood control]] with its twenty dams and reservoirs. It has allowed major cities to grow along Valley rivers which previously would flood each spring, and transformed the [[semi-arid]] [[desert]] environment of the San Joaquin Valley into productive farmland. Freshwater stored in [[Sacramento River]] reservoirs and released downriver during dry periods prevents salt water from intruding into the [[Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta]] during [[high tide]]. There are eight divisions of the project and ten corresponding units, many of which operate in conjunction, while others are independent of the rest of the network. California agriculture and related industries now directly account for 7% of the gross state product for which the CVP supplied water for about half.

Many CVP operations have had considerable environmental consequences, including a decline in the [[salmon]] population of four major California rivers in the northern state, and the reduction of [[riparian zone]]s and [[wetland]]s. Many historical sites and [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] tribal lands have been flooded by CVP reservoirs. In addition, runoff from intensive irrigation has polluted rivers and [[groundwater]]. The [[Central Valley Project Improvement Act]], passed in 1992, intends to alleviate some of the problems associated with the CVP with programs like the [[Refuge Water Supply Program]].

In recent years, a combination of [[drought]] and regulatory decisions passed based on the [[Endangered Species Act of 1973]] have forced Reclamation to turn off much of the water for the west side of the San Joaquin Valley in order to protect the fragile ecosystem in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and keep alive the dwindling fish populations of Northern and Central California rivers. In 2017 the Klamath and Trinity rivers witnessed the worst fall run Chinook salmon return in recorded history, leading to a disaster declaration in California and Oregon due to the loss of the commercial fisheries. The recreational fall Chinook salmon fishery in both the ocean and the Trinity and Klamath rivers was also closed in 2017. Only 1,123 adult winter Chinook salmon returned to the Sacramento Valley in 2017, according to a report sent to the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). This is the second lowest number of returning adult winter run salmon since modern counting techniques were implemented in 2003. By comparison, over 117,000 winter Chinooks returned to spawn in 1969.