Water Supply
From: John Holland, Modesto
Bee
Farmers and their allies pleaded
with state officials Tuesday for quick action on the drought emergency and
long-term solutions to keep it from happening again. More than 200 people
packed a University of California at Merced conference room for a meeting of
Gov. Jerry Brown's Drought Task Force and the State Board of Food and
Agriculture.
"Your decisions will have a
long and lasting effect on the local, regional and state economy," said
Aldo Sansoni, who grows almonds, tomatoes and other crops in Merced County.
From: Bill Dietrich, Fresno
Bee
First off, let me say thank you
to fellow farmer Joe Del Bosque and his family, who met with President Barack
Obama during his visit to the San Joaquin Valley. What Joe, and others like him
do, is at great sacrifice to their personal lives and families. Thank you, too,
to all our water district (public agencies like San Luis Water District) staff
and families who have made the survival of our operations a part of their daily
lives. I am grateful for all you do.
The water delivery system in
California was designed for one purpose: "To deliver water to arid lands
of the West." The dreamers, planners and designers could never have
imagined how successful it would be! We literally feed the world. The nation
reaps tremendous economic benefits and safe, healthy food from the activity
generated by this water system. This is good.
From: Jim Carlton, Wall Street
Journal (Subscription required)
As the Golden State suffers
through a three-year drought, residents of semiarid Southern California are
mostly being asked to voluntarily conserve water. In typically wetter Northern
California, residents are faced with mandatory rationing.
In the battle for water supplies
in the state, where the south has traditionally been characterized as an
endlessly thirsty drain on water from the north, this turnabout is the result
of years of preparation and billions of dollars of infrastructure improvements.
From: Rob Parsons, Merced
Sun-Star
Farmers drawing water from the
Merced Irrigation District are considering a proposal to raise the amount of
money they pay for water and the amount landowners pay per acre of land within
the district to keep it afloat.
The MID board of directors voted
unanimously Tuesday to send ballots to district farmers requesting a water rate
increase that would take prices from $23.25 per acre-foot of water to $100.67
per acre-foot. An acre-foot is the amount of water it would take to cover an
acre of land 1 foot deep, or about 325,900 gallons.
From: Alex Breitler, eSanjoaquin.com
Recent storms have boosted the
amount of water flowing through the Delta, and San Joaquin Valley farmers
expressed frustration today that more of that water isn't being sent their way,
given that more than half a million acres are expected to be fallowed this
year.
"As we speak this very
moment there's 25,000 (cubic feet per second) flowing as outflow out to the
ocean. At the same time, we're pumping 4,400 cfs," said Dan Nelson, head
of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, at a drought meeting held
at U.C. Merced today. "I ask you," Nelson said, addressing State
Water Resources Control Board Chair Felicia Marcus, "is this the balance
that you anticipated? Is this the balance that you're working for? I don't
think so. We knew this storm was going to happen last week. Why didn't we
prepare for it?"
From: Staff, KSEE 24
More water talks in the Valley as
the Governor's Drought Task Force came to town. State officials met
with Valley farmers during a 'Q and A' session at UC Merced, to discuss the
ongoing impacts of the drought, and to take ideas back to Sacramento.
It was standing room only inside
the Governor's Drought Task Force meeting at UC Merced Tuesday. One by one,
farmers and local leaders took the podium, while state officials sat back and
listened. California Department of Food and Agriculture Karen Ross says,
"It's heartbreaking to think about the harsh decisions they have to
make."
Salton Sea
From: Raju Chebium, Desert
Sun
The Obama administration's fiscal
2015 budget request to Congress seeks a fraction of the $1 million that two
local congressmen had sought for a Salton Sea restoration project.
President Barack Obama's spending
wish list, unveiled Tuesday, seeks $200,000 for the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers to continue studying issues with the Salton Sea, California's largest
inland body of water.
Water Policy
From: Mark Lubell, U.C. Davis
Center for Environmental Policy and Behavior
The recent California drought is
a time machine. It represents a regularly recurring event in California's
Mediterranean climate, which cycles back and forth between dry and wet years so
frequently that a "normal" year is actually the exception. Hence, we
have witnessed many droughts in the past, and we will see them again in the
future. This prediction holds even if the models are wrong in forecasting that
climate change will load the "climate dice" in favor of more frequent
and longer duration droughts in the future. Of course most readers know this
already-the recurring climate and hydrological patterns of California are big
news headlines with nice info-graphics (and countless blogs, tweets, etc) in
2013-2014.
Groundwater
From: Staff, Modesto Bee
Jim DeMartini called the
Stanislaus County Groundwater Advisory Committee a waste of time, and he might
be right. With his departure, there's a better chance that won't be the case.
If the committee is to succeed, it needs leaders who want to develop groundwater
rules, regulations and permitting procedures that will create sustainability
and equity for everyone who depends on groundwater - which is everyone in the
county.
Supervisor Terry Withrow has
replaced DeMartini and, with chairman Wayne Zipser, we think the committee can
do good work. There are broad issues to consider (quickly) and details to be
mastered.
From: Dennis Taylor, Salinas
Californian
A major water study points to a
number of methods to significantly reduce groundwater pumping and seawater
intrusion in the area of the Pajaro River.
The river is the border between
Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, but it is a meandering river and portions of
it are in Monterey County at times.
From: Nela Lichtscheidl, KERO
23
The State Water Resources Control
Board has detected high levels of nitrate in groundwater throughout California,
and Kern County happens to be one of those areas affected. State officials
tested several areas five times, and found that Tulare and Los Angeles counties
have high concentrations of nitrate contaminating their groundwater - many
agricultural communities even have them in their wells.
Now the Environmental Protections
Agency says most the nitrate contamination in drinking water comes from the
runoff left from fertilizer use and the sporadic leaking from septic tanks.
Meetings
From: Staff, California Farm
Water Coalition
CFWC will be hosting a regional
meeting on March 20 in Fresno on the topic of groundwater. Scheduled
speakers include David Guy, executive director of the Northern California Water
Association who will be discussing the future of groundwater management in the
Sacramento Valley. A recent report by the Nature Conservancy implied that
groundwater pumping has a measurable effect on surface waterways, such as the
Sacramento River. Also speaking will be Bob Reeb of Reeb Government Affairs who
will discuss current groundwater legislation underway in Sacramento. The
meeting will be held from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm at Fresno Irrigation District and
includes lunch. Space is limited and preregistration is required.
Contact the CFWC office at (916)
391-5030 for more information.
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