It's too late for the current drought, but an ambitious water bank project in the southern San Joaquin Valley would give farmers a supplemental supply in future dry spells. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation kick-started the water bank with a $6.65 million pledge toward a 560-acre recharge basin between Earlimart and Tulare east of Highway 99. Water from the Friant-Kern Canal would be piped to the basin and percolate into the soil, and in dry years the water would be pumped out so farmers could irrigate orchards and crops.
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