Tuesday, January 21, 2014

News articles and links from January 21, 2014


Drought

From: John Howard, Capitol Weekly

California's two behemoth water deliverers - the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project, perhaps the best known water purveyors in the world - are poised to join together to move water quickly around the state in the face of an unprecedented drought.

Gov. Brown's decision to ask Californians to voluntarily reduce their water consumption by 20 percent received support, especially among those with long memories: In the historic drought of 1977, California had 22 million people. This year, it has at least 38 million.

From: Felix Smith, Sacramento Bee

Re "State of emergency declared in drought" (Page A1, Jan. 18): The governor's declaration is a drastic step that brings up other environmental questions. We must ask what the plan will be to protect California's native fish, which include Chinook salmon and steelhead trout. Also, will we continue to irrigate crops in the desert lands of southwestern San Joaquin Valley with water drained from Northern California?

From: Martha Conklin, Modesto Bee

Gov. Jerry Brown's drought declaration Friday should be applauded, as our current water situation is challenging, to say the least. But declaring a drought is only part of the picture.

Today, the Sierra snowpack is 5 percent to 10 percent of what it should be by April 1. Usually, we have more than a third of our snowpack by this time. The snowpack is California's greatest water storage system, holding more water than all our reservoirs combined.

From: George Warren, KXTV 10

Northern Californians who blame the water shortage on their wasteful neighbors to the south as much as they do the lack of rain may be surprised to learn the truth.

"The myth that we'd be debunking is that Southern California is wasting water," said Terry Erlewine, general manager of the State Water Contractors, an association of 27 public water agencies that purchase water from the State Water Project. The agencies include the Metropolitan Water District, which serves 19 million people in six Southern California counties."

From: Staff, KGET 17

"It's time to put people over fish." That comment from Hanford Congressman David Valadao Monday in reference to the water crisis gripping California.

Acknowledging there's nothing lawmakers can do to make it rain, the Hanford Republican says it's imperative to keep the pumps turned on in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and to stop letting fresh water flow out of the Delta into the ocean.

Farming

From: Antoine Abou-Diwan, Imperial Valley Press 

More than 30 asparagus farmers from Germany visited Imperial Valley on Monday.

Their visit was part of a two-week tour that began in Mexico City and worked its way north. Monday's itinerary included visits to El Toro Export and Brock Asparagus, and allowed the opportunity to compare agricultural production between the two countries.

Don Brock, a third-generation asparagus grower, gave the group a brief history of asparagus production in the west. 

Meetings 

From: Staff, California Irrigation Institute

The U.S. Water Alliance will be announcing the winners of the annual U.S. Water Prize at the upcoming California Irrigation Institute conference in Sacramento, CA.  Past winners have included Onondaga County, NY, for its program to "Save the Rain" and embrace green infrastructure solutions to wet weather problems; The Freshwater Trust for its collaborative market-based solutions to restore and protect rivers and streams; and, Miller Coors for their innovative and comprehensive strategies to protect and conserve water throughout its life cycle. "Our 2013 U.S. Water Prize winners are leading the way, from East to West and all points in between, on the value of water and the power of innovating and integrating for one water sustainability". 

Conference registration is available at www.caii.org.

A special discount is available to Subscribers of News Line! Use Discount Code: CFWC2014 for a $25.00 discount off your registration at www.caii.org/

Thursday & Friday, Jan. 23-24, 2014
Sacramento Arden West Hilton
2200 Harvard Street, Sacramento

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