Water Supply
From: Carolyn Lochhead, sfgate.com
Four California Democrats,
including Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, sent an urgent appeal
Wednesday to the state Water Resources Control Board pleading for two-week
delay in a decision that was expected Friday to slash water deliveries from the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to farmers.
The letter was also signed by
Reps. Jim Costa of Fresno and John Garamendi of Walnut Grove (Sacramento
County). Garamendi is a fierce protector of delta water and fisheries, which
frequently puts him in conflict with San Joaquin Valley farmers over water.
From: Michael Doyle, McClatchy
California's two Democratic
senators, joined by two House Democrats, urged the State Water Resources
Control Board on Wedneseday to think twice, or maybe thrice, before issuing a
proposed order that could cut Delta water pumping.
In a three-page letter, Sens.
Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer along with Reps. Jim Costa of Fresno and
John Garamendi of Walnut Grove asked the water board to put off until at least
March 21 the proposed "prioritizing" of statewide water deliveries.
From: Carol Lawrence, Ventura
County Star (Subscription required)
Water shortages, dwindling labor
and onerous regulations are largely political issues that need solutions soon,
a panel of agriculture producers said Wednesday morning in Camarillo.
From: Staff, Santa Maria Times
The irony is inescapable, and you
have to appreciate it. At about the same time state lawmakers were delivering
drought relief legislation to the governor last week, California got the
biggest drenching it has seen in more than a year.
Irony is one thing, but reality
is something quite different. In this case, we've still got a drought
situation, despite those downpours last week. And we all still need to think
about water supplies, now and in the future, despite the aforementioned rain
episodes.
Water Storage
From: Bettina Boxall, Los
Angeles Times
A court ruling issued Wednesday
could throw up obstacles to operation of a Kern County groundwater bank that
has helped billionaire Stewart Resnick build a nut empire in the southern San
Joaquin Valley.
In the latest development in a
two-decade legal fight, a Sacramento County Superior Court judge found that the
state Department of Water Resources didn't properly analyze the environmental
impacts of the Kern Water Bank, which is partly controlled by Resnick's
Paramount Farms enterprise.
From: Garance Burke,
Associated Press
A state judge ruled Wednesday
that California water managers failed to consider the environmental impacts of
running one of the nation's largest water banks.
The Department of Water Resources
never looked at the ecological effects of running the Kern Water Bank when the
state transferred the bank to private hands in 1997, Judge Timothy Frawley
ruled.
From: Ben Adler, Capital
Public Radio
The Assembly Democratic
leadership has now added an extra $1 billion for storage projects like dams and
reservoirs to its bond proposal in hopes of winning support of Republicans and
Central Valley Democrats. "These will all be open and competitive
grants," says Asm. Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood), the proposal's
author. "The whole point of this water bond package, from the
outset, has been to stay away from specific earmarks."
Asm. Brian Dahle (R-Bieber) says
that's a good start - "I'm interested in creating wet water, and that
means we have to do ground water storage, surface water storage, investment in
the watersheds" - but he's still concerned there's no guarantee that future
Democratic-controlled legislatures won't spend the storage money elsewhere.
Farming News
From: Jessica Peres, KFSN 30
As farmers in the Central Valley
battle zero water allocation from the Friant Dam, some are now worried the
value of their land will go down. Farmers in the driest areas of the county are
now worried. With no certainty of water coming in, will their precious farmland
be worth less than what they paid for it?
For the last few months citrus
growers in Terra Bella have seen their share of hurdles. First, a potentially
deadly citrus bug was found in the area, then orange groves here were wiped out
from the December freeze, and now, no water.
From: Dennis Taylor, Salinas
Californian
A one-two punch by Mother Nature
is afflicting Monterey County strawberry growers' crops in their Oxnard-area
operations and could have an impact on the Central Coast crop.
During a drought, salts that
would normally be leached out by rainfall stay on the surface of the soil
surrounding the strawberry plants.
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