Press release from Friends of the River
After providing the previously undisclosed story of the Merced River secretly running dry in 2022 for a bombshell piece written by Raymond Zhong of the New York Times, Friends of the River (FOR) is now calling upon the State Water Resources Control Board to adopt permanent dry season baseflow regulations on the Merced River.
In late 2022, the Merced River, the 14th biggest river in California, ran completely dry for four months near its confluence point with the San Joaquin River. The river, which serves essential habitat for listed species including spring-run Chinook salmon and steelhead, was impassable. This issue ended up buried in bureaucratic correspondence, so this story of a major California river running dry was never told to the public. That was until FOR uncovered it and stepped up to deliver the public the truth.
“The story of the Merced River running dry is as much about poor policy decisions as it is about climate change,” said Keiko Mertz at FOR. “We need to systemically change how we allocate water in the state through water rights reform so that these issues don’t occur again.”
According to Erik Ekdahl, Deputy Director of the Water Board, the river’s lengthy dry spell was the result of legal diversions. Per the NYT article: “In investigating the matter, the board has so far found that the river most likely went dry as a result of people taking water legally, Mr. Ekdahl said. In other words, local farmers do not appear to have violated the Board’s drought controls that year by slurping up every last drop.”
“A dry river is a catastrophe,” said Keiko Mertz [in the NYT piece], policy director for Friends of the River, a conservation group in Sacramento. “The water board should anticipate, manage and prevent this from happening.”
Earlier this month, Friends of the River urged the Water Board to adopt permanent minimum flow regulations on the Merced River to prevent this from happening again. FOR is again calling upon the Water Board to act urgently on this issue.
FOR is committed to reshaping the narrative that California is hopelessly dry. Rather, FOR believes the state suffers from outdated water management policies that divert water for unsustainable uses. With sweeping reforms to water rights and regulation, FOR is confident that California can achieve water sustainability.
For more information on Friends of the River, visit https://www.friendsoftheriver.
