Vietnamese Delegation Shares in California’s Drought Lessons

Mekong Delta Problems Also Issues for California’s Delta

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Man points to large wall map as he speaks to group of people in hallway
Jacob Oxenrider, operations manager at the C.W. "Bill" Jones Pumping Plant near Tracy, explains to a delegation of officials from Vietnam how the pumping plant delivers water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to the Delta-Mendota Canal. (Timothy McConville/UC Davis)

A delegation of government officials from Vietnam, now experiencing its worst drought in nearly 100 years, visited UC Davis and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta this week to hear about the lessons learned during California’s multiyear drought.

The meeting was an outcome of visits to Vietnam earlier this year by President Obama, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross.

During Monday’s symposium, speakers from the university and government agencies discussed the complexity and coordination of California’s water system; strategies for forecasting, monitoring and responding to drought; and how California’s agricultural sector has dealt with the drought.

Man in yellow hardhat leads group of people down broad walkway next too river
Rene Reyes, a fishery biologist with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, guides the visiting delegation on a tour of the Tracy Fish Collection Facility, where fish are removed from the water upstream from the pumping plant and then transported and released into the Sacramento River. (Timothy McConville/UC Davis)

During the Tuesday delta tour, the delegation visited the C.W. “Bill” Jones Pumping Plant near Tracy, where water from the delta is pumped into the Delta-Mendota Canal for transport south, and the Tracy Fish Collection Facility, where fish are gathered before they reach the pumping plant and and later released into the Sacramento River. The group also participated in a boat tour of the delta, departing from Brannan Island State Recreational Area.

A video of the delegation’s delta tour is available on YouTube.

Hosting the delegation along with UC Davis were the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the San Luis Delta-Mendota Water Authority, the U.S. Geological Survey and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources.

 

Media Resources

Pat Bailey, UC Davis News and Media Relations, 530-219-9640, pjbailey@ucdavis.edu

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