Farm Water News: News articles and links from August 6, 2012

Water supply

Blaming orcas for cuts in farm water is silly

Editorial

From Sacramento Bee - Monday, Aug. 6, 2012

Coalition response...Court documents filed by federal fish agencies and environmental groups cited the reliance of orcas on salmon as reasoning to restrict water from 25 million Californians and farmers who grow an affordable and healthy food supply. As a result of the listing, thousands of farmworkers were forced out of their jobs and impacts to the overall community reached almost $1 billion. This is tragic when no evidence exists to indicate that these whales are any different or more endangered than the rest of the world's population. Characterizing the delisting as silly ignores science and is insensitive to the people who lost their jobs.

Groundwater

Planning for state's dry future

Editorial

From Santa Maria Times - Friday, Aug. 3, 2012

Coalition response...Part of the groundwater program this editorial seeks should be an improved delivery system of surface water, especially in the San Joaquin Valley. These farmers have been concerned for years with the overdraft situation of their water supplies from the aquifers. This concern was one reason why Californians supported the construction of the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project that delivered surface water to farms, homes and businesses that stretch from the San Francisco east bay to San Diego.

Dependable surface water supplies enabled farmers to turn off their irrigation pumps that lifted water from the aquifer to their fields. The water from the aquifer remained as an insurance policy when years of drought diminished the supply of surface water. However, environmental regulations that restrict water flowing through the Delta to Central Valley farms and beyond have caused farmers to increase groundwater use to keep their farms productive. The solution to much of California's groundwater problem is to fix the surface water problem. Governor Brown's recent announcement to move forward with water supply reliability and ecosystem restoration projects will go a long way to improve the situation for California's groundwater.

Delta

Eclectic Delta coalition is set to fight proposal for 'peripheral tunnels'

Opinion

By Stuart Leavenworth

From Sacramento Bee - Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012

Coalition response...The author references selected changes in California since 1982 when voters rejected a proposal to construct a canal capable of transporting water at a rate of 22,000 cfs. But the author fails to mention that the current plan calls for a rate of only 9,000 cfs. The current version also calls for restoration of the Delta's ecosystem, as directed by the Legislature in 2009.

Some farmers in the Delta are expressing a concern for their water rights if the current proposal moves to completion, according to the author. It is important to remember that California's water code does not allow a project to negatively impact existing water rights.

The debate will continue regarding the current proposal and it is important that facts and science, not rhetoric, direct the conversation.

WATER SUPPLY

Don't let north state be next Owens Valley

Opinion

By Robert Arey

From Redding Record Searchlight - Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012

An MID water sale to San Francisco would be bad for our area

Opinion

By John Duarte

From Modesto Bee - Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012

Setting the killer whale record straight

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