Water Supply
From: Staff, Modesto Bee
Echo chambers are great if you
like the sound of what you're saying. But they're not much use if your goal is
to find solutions everyone can agree to.
Most congressional field hearings,
like the one in Fresno on Wednesday, are essentially echo chambers. Those
invited to speak generally hold the same views as those who invited them. In
this case, that's Republican representatives Jeff Denham of Turlock and David
Valadao of Hanford.
Coalition response... The Bee is right to expect balance in a process to improve water supply
for the region and the rest of California. In reality the purpose of
Wednesday's Congressional field hearing was to try and restore balance to a
water supply system that has favored environmental priorities over the needs of
people for almost three decades.
Criticizing farmers for planting
trees ignores the fact that a lot of them were planted before some of the
recent, most damaging rule changes were implemented that have strangled water
deliveries to otherwise productive farmland. Part of the problem centers on the
fact that water is being used to push migrating fish out to the sea. Instead,
new science is showing that we need to provide sufficient in-Delta habitat for
fish to grow and get strong before their long journey. That problem is
worsened by the devastating impact predatory fish have on baby salmon. Western
Outdoor Magazine was brutally honest in a 2009 bass fishing article that said,
"The whole key to this game is to find areas where stripers (striped bass)
can easily pick off salmon as they move downriver. It's a one-sided bloodbath,
and when the spray and foam settles, the stripers emerge fat and happy while
the Chinook (salmon) suffer heavy losses."
The salmon industry should be
outraged but they remain silent.
Environmental water allocations
aren't doing the job we've been told they should do. Endangered fish continue
to struggle despite the millions of acre-feet of water that have been released
to the ocean. It's time that people stand up and demand accountability for the
resources and tax dollars that are being wasted on a failed approach to
endangered species recovery. Journalists should be leading the charge and
asking environmental water managers to show some improvement in exchange for
the public investment we all make.
From: Staff, Fresno Bee
The third year of the California
drought brings a reminder of just how fractured and messy democracy can be.
There have been dozens of proposals -- seven versions of a state water bond,
for example -- to improve the water situation and more are surely on the way.
We're wondering if the
politicians are even keeping track of all that has been proposed. To a degree,
we understand why this effort is complicated. California is a large and diverse
state. Our elected officials represented widely varying interests and
constituencies. And tossing out ideas is part of the process -- especially as
lawmakers attempt to balance environmental concerns against the need to store
and move water.
Coalition response... The Fresno Bee is absolutely wrong when it says, "...the debate
has to move beyond whether to build more dams," and that there
"...needs to be a discussion about possibly limiting the number of thirsty
almond trees grown in California."
The amount of water that is being
lost to the ocean with little, if anything to show in the way of environmental
benefits is criminal. Outflows that fail to demonstrate benefits to fisheries
or water quality are lost opportunities to protect farms, families and
businesses from devastating water supply cuts. One wonders whether the purpose
is to actually help endangered species or to put farms out of business by
starving them of water.
Instead of advocating for
authoritarian-style land use restrictions, journalists should be asking why
agricultural and urban water users are held accountable to meet efficiency
standards but environmental water managers are not. They are unable to quantify
the benefits of the 48% of California's dedicated water supply that is
committed to environmental purposes.
Water Bond
From: Seth Nidever, Hanford
Sentinel
The pressure is mounting for new
water storage in California, and it's not just the Republicans beating the
drum.
Case in point: Assemblyman Rudy
Salas, D-Bakersfield; Assemblyman Henry T. Perea, D-Fresno; and Assemblyman
Adam Gray, D-Merced, announced a water bond bill today that provides the
funding agricultural groups consider necessary to kick-start new dam projects.
Drought
From: Staff, CNBC
California-hammered by a severe
drought-may see nearly a million acres of land go idle this year, a report said
on Friday.
According to the Western Farm
Press agriculture news site, the California Farm Water Coalition has sharply
increased its projection of idle acres this year to 800,000, up from 500,000.
The report cited the group's estimates showing that lost farm production could
deprive the Golden State's economy of nearly $8 billion.
From: Dale Yurong, KFSN-30
Consumers are already feeling the
impact of the drought conditions at the grocery store. Prices for beef, milk
and vegetables are on the rise.
Sarah Lisitsin of Fresno is among
the many valley shoppers who have noticed the price of her bagged groceries has
gone up. Lisitsin replied, "Oh everything, milk. I would say it's more
expensive to fill up the pantry than it was before."
From: Peter Fimrite, San
Francisco Chronicle
Tens of thousands of squiggling
salmon fattening up on bugs and other nutrients on flooded cropland in the
Sacramento Valley could soon provide a solution to the long-running dispute
over who should get the bulk of California's diminishing supply of water: farms
or fish.
There appears to be a way to
satisfy both. Researchers from UC Davis flooded rice paddies on a 1,700-acre
farm in nearby Woodland (Yolo County) and converted the fields into wetland
fish habitat, much like the vast marshlands that once covered the state's
inland valleys during the winter.
From: Robert Rodriguez, Fresno
Bee
A robust export market, strong
consumer demand and increased production will benefit several of the San
Joaquin Valley's major crops even as California farmers struggle through a
historic drought, said several agriculture industry leaders Thursday.
Citrus, dairy, tree fruit, table
grapes and nut crops are all in growth mode or at least showing signs of
stabilization.
Groundwater
From: Ian James, Desert Sun
Wide-ranging discussions about
water use on farms and golf courses, wastewater recycling and how to encourage
conservation emerged as the Coachella Valley Water District and the Desert
Water Agency led a tour of water infrastructure Thursday focusing on management
of the area's groundwater.
The water agencies offered the
tour to participants in Thursday's symposium in Palm Springs focusing on
drought and water scarcity. The group of government officials, water experts
and local residents visited places including ponds on the outskirts of Palm
Springs where imported water from the Colorado River flows in and seeps down to
the aquifer.
From: Ian James, Desert Sun
Sen. Barbara Boxer called for the
West to set aside legal fights over water and adapt to drier times by moving
more quickly to expand water recycling and adopt new water-saving technologies.
Speaking during a symposium on
drought and water scarcity on Thursday, Boxer announced that she is preparing
new legislation that would provide incentives for efficiency and conservation,
promote drought preparedness and provide financing for wastewater recycling and
other projects.
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