Water supply
Blog
By Rick Paulas
From KCET - Tuesday,
Dec. 18, 2012
Coalition response...A disconcerting element of this report is the attempt to place social
values on the water used to produce meat and dairy products. Consumer choices
and federal nutrition guidelines include these items and most people find them
to be a valuable part of a balanced diet. It takes feed like alfalfa, hay and
corn to produce meat, ice cream and cheese. Suggesting that people will
"help make the world a better place" by avoiding meat or dairy
products is social engineering at its worst.
Consumers also benefit
economically from domestic food production by paying less at the grocery store
than their counterparts in 28 other high-income countries. Americans pay just
6.2% of their disposable income on food and non-alcoholic beverages each year.
Those in other high-income countries pay 10.2%, which at the same rate would
cost Americans $3,820 more each year (in 2010 dollars) to feed their families
( http://www.farmwater.org/foodcoststudy.pdf).
Also absent in the study are
those additional values derived from water used on California farms. Jobs are
provided for millions of employees both on the farm and through marketing
channels, such as trucking, processing, service and export terminal jobs, with
a total economic impact of $112 billion, according to the UC Davis Ag Issues
Center. Don't forget that taxes are also generated from these farms that help
support local schools and other government activities.
California is the seventh largest
economy in the world and any effort designed to shift water use based on
economic value is misleading. After all, most Californians would agree that the
availability of fresh California-grown fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy
products far outweigh the taste and nutrition of a "high-value"
product such as a shoe or a computer. Readers of this report should realize the
value they currently have from the food and fiber grown on our farms and not be
fooled into comparing food with other consumer products.
Delta
Story
From Central Valley Business Times - Tuesday, Dec. 18,
2012
Coalition response...Years of study by scientists, biologists, engineers and others have gone
into the efforts to establish a reliable water supply and an improved Delta
ecosystem. Those efforts have come together under the Bay Delta Conservation
Plan. Volumes of material is available for review at the BDCP's website - http://baydeltaconservationplan.com/Home.aspx.
Various plans to achieve the goals of the BDCP have been submitted and each has
been fully vetted. Some elements of these plans have been incorporated into the
BDCP current proposal because the researchers have determined that value
exists. Other plans have not fared as well.
The current proposal is the
closest California has come to safeguarding its water future through a reliable
water supply and recognizing the importance of restoring a fragile Delta ecosystem.
WATER SUPPLY
Report
From Aquafornia - Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012
Story
From Porterville Recorder - Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012
Radio news
From Capital Public Radio - Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012
Story
From The Business Journal - Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012
WATER QUALITY
Story
From ACWA - Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012
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