Drought
From: John Howard,
Capitol Weekly
California's two behemoth water
deliverers - the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project,
perhaps the best known water purveyors in the world - are poised to join
together to move water quickly around the state in the face of an unprecedented
drought.
Gov. Brown's decision to ask
Californians to voluntarily reduce their water consumption by 20 percent
received support, especially among those with long memories: In the historic
drought of 1977, California had 22 million people. This year, it has at least
38 million.
From: Felix Smith, Sacramento
Bee
Re "State of emergency declared in drought"
(Page A1, Jan. 18): The governor's declaration is a drastic step that brings up
other environmental questions. We must ask what the plan will be to protect
California's native fish, which include Chinook salmon and steelhead trout.
Also, will we continue to irrigate crops in the desert lands of southwestern
San Joaquin Valley with water drained from Northern California?
From: Martha Conklin, Modesto
Bee
Gov. Jerry Brown's drought
declaration Friday should be applauded, as our current water situation is
challenging, to say the least. But declaring a drought is only part of the
picture.
Today, the Sierra snowpack is 5
percent to 10 percent of what it should be by April 1. Usually, we have more
than a third of our snowpack by this time. The snowpack is California's
greatest water storage system, holding more water than all our reservoirs
combined.
From: George Warren, KXTV
10
Northern Californians who blame
the water shortage on their wasteful neighbors to the south as much as they do
the lack of rain may be surprised to learn the truth.
"The myth that we'd be
debunking is that Southern California is wasting water," said Terry
Erlewine, general manager of the State Water Contractors, an association of 27
public water agencies that purchase water from the State Water Project. The
agencies include the Metropolitan Water District, which serves 19 million
people in six Southern California counties."
From: Staff, KGET 17
"It's time to put people
over fish." That comment from Hanford Congressman David Valadao Monday in
reference to the water crisis gripping California.
Acknowledging there's nothing
lawmakers can do to make it rain, the Hanford Republican says it's imperative
to keep the pumps turned on in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and to stop
letting fresh water flow out of the Delta into the ocean.
Farming
From: Antoine Abou-Diwan,
Imperial Valley Press
More than 30 asparagus farmers
from Germany visited Imperial Valley on Monday.
Their visit was part of a
two-week tour that began in Mexico City and worked its way north. Monday's
itinerary included visits to El Toro Export and Brock Asparagus, and allowed
the opportunity to compare agricultural production between the two countries.
Don Brock, a third-generation
asparagus grower, gave the group a brief history of asparagus production in the
west.
Meetings
From: Staff, California
Irrigation Institute
The U.S. Water Alliance will be
announcing the winners of the annual U.S. Water Prize at the upcoming
California Irrigation Institute conference in Sacramento, CA. Past
winners have included Onondaga County, NY, for its program to "Save
the Rain" and embrace green infrastructure solutions to wet weather
problems; The Freshwater Trust for its collaborative market-based solutions to
restore and protect rivers and streams; and, Miller Coors for their innovative
and comprehensive strategies to protect and conserve water throughout its life
cycle. "Our 2013 U.S. Water Prize winners are leading the way, from East
to West and all points in between, on the value of water and the power of innovating
and integrating for one water sustainability".
Conference registration is
available at www.caii.org.
A special discount is available
to Subscribers of News Line! Use Discount Code: CFWC2014 for a $25.00 discount
off your registration at www.caii.org/
Thursday & Friday, Jan.
23-24, 2014
Sacramento Arden West Hilton
2200 Harvard Street, Sacramento
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