Bay Delta
Conservation Plan
From: Joaquin Palomino, East
Bay Express
Dan Errotabere's family has been
farming the dry soils of the western San Joaquin Valley for nearly a century.
His grandfather primarily grew wheat and other grains. His father grew
vegetables and other annual crops almost exclusively. But in 1999, Errotabere
decided to plant his first almond tree. Today, almonds account for more than a
quarter of his 3,600-acre farm.
"Out here it's nothing but
topsoil," he told me during a tour of his property late last year. He
added that his land is especially good for growing nuts."
Coalition
response... Much of California relies
on water that falls on one part of the state and is moved to where it is
needed, including much of the San Francisco Bay Area. Water is a public
resource administered by the State Water Resources Control Board. That has
helped fuel California's economy in the Sacramento, Silicon, San Joaquin and
San Fernando valleys. Each of these regions, and others, provide a valuable
contribution to the diverse and interwoven economy of our state.
Sacramento Valley almond
production is actually quite comparable to the San Joaquin Valley, not
"four times the yields using the same amount of irrigation water," as
the author states. Almond production, like many of California's farm products,
provides value added benefits to the economy through jobs in processing,
transportation, wholesale and retail businesses. A significant number of jobs
at the Port of Oakland are the result of farm production throughout California.
Farms are one of the few bright spots in the balance of trade, thanks to people
like Dan Errotabere and almost 4,000 others like him who grow the food we buy
around the corner and around the world.
Drought
From: Sam Brasch, Modern
Farmer Magazine
Meteorologists are already
calling the current California drought the worst on record. B. Lynn Ingram, a
paleoclimatologist at the University of California, Berkeley, used tree rings to
look even farther back into the state's past, only to find more bad news. She
claims that this year is the state's driest since Sir Francis Drake visited the
west coast in 1580.
Last week, Gov. Jerry Brown
declared a state of drought emergency, which makes it easier to move water
around the state, hire seasonal fire fighters and limit the landscaping
irrigation around state highways. But even as cities struggle with extreme
shortages, farmers - who take up 77 percent of the state's water - have the most
to lose.
The California Farm Water
Coalition (CFWC) estimates the drought could take a $5 billion dollar bite out
of an industry that brings in $44.7 billion annually.
From: Alastair Bland,
Sacramento News and Review
The dusty brown shoreline
surrounding Folsom Lake descends steeply into the greenish water. Overhead, the
sky is an unseasonal blue, and the exposed lake bed is parched and cracked.
Boat ramps, which have delivered countless water skiers and fishermen to the
reservoir's edge, no longer reach the shore. The lake's tributaries have turned
to trickles, and the towering concrete wall of Folsom Dam has been rising out
of the lake, which has been shrinking for months.
Water Supply
From: Steve Gorman, Reuters; CNBC; Chicago Tribune
Drought-stricken California
farmers facing drastic cutbacks in irrigation water are expected to idle some
500,000 acres of cropland this year in a record production loss that could
cause billions of dollars in economic damage, industry officials said.
Large-scale crop losses in
California, the No. 1 U.S. farm state producing half the nation's fruits and
vegetables, would undoubtedly lead to higher consumer prices, especially for
tree and vine produce grown only there. But experts say it is too soon to
quantify the effect.
From: Todd Fitchette, Western
Farm Press
I have a question every elected
and appointed official in the State of California should be forced to answer
publicly: Then what?
What happens when California
reservoirs dry up and water can no longer be delivered to farms and homes? Then
what? What happens in the 17 California communities reported to have as little
as 100 days of available water from their water providers? Then what?
What happens when Millerton Lake
near Fresno dries up this summer and water cannot be delivered down the
Friant-Kern Canal to homes and farms from Chowchilla to Bakersfield, which
simple math suggests will happen by July 1 of this year? Then what
From: Lois Henry, Bakersfield
Californian (Subscription required)
Bids for a chunk of water being
sold by a local agricultural water district came in so high Wednesday that one
district pulled its bid in the middle of the process figuring "why
bother?"
In response to California's
devastating drought, the Buena Vista Water Storage District announced last
month it would sell 12,000 acre feet of its stored water to local growers by
auction as part of a larger water conservation program. The minimum bid was set
at $600 per acre foot.
From: Paul Hendrix, Visalia-Times
Delta
This is written in response to
the story "Running Dry - With Many California Aquifers Declining, Calls
Grow for More Oversight of Groundwater," published in the Jan. 4-5 weekend
edition of the Visalia Times-Delta and Tulare Advance-Register. The story was a
collaboration between the Times-Delta, the Salinas Californian and the Desert
Sun.
The article addressed three
regions of the state, one being the agriculturally-rich San Joaquin Valley.
Yes, the problem persists with falling water levels and the loss of
groundwater, commonly called overdraft. And yes, the article correctly
acknowledges that water managers have known of the problem for decades.
From: Raju Chebium, Visalia Times-Daily; Salinas Californian; Desert Sun
A Republican bill that would
increase the amount of water available to farmers in California's fertile but
parched Central Valley passed the GOP-majority House on a mostly party-line
vote of 229-191 Wednesday.
Seven Democrats voted for it and
two Republicans voted against. Californians were split along party lines, with
Democratic Reps. Raul Ruiz of Palm Desert and Sam Farr of Carmel voting no and
Republican Rep. Devin Nunes of Tulare voting yes.
From: Bartholomew Sullivan, Redding Record-Searchlight; Ventura County Star (Subscriptions required)
California's water wars extended
to the House floor Wednesday as more than a dozen state representatives debated
reducing environmental efforts and allocating more San Joaquin River water to
Central Valley growers.
From: Michael Doyle, Sacramento Bee; Modesto Bee; Merced Sun-Star
A bitterly divided House approved
a sweeping California water bill Wednesday that puts the Senate on the spot and
splits the drought-ridden state into several competing camps.
Forgoing the usual oversight and
hearings, Republican leaders pushed the drought-inspired bill through at warp
speed and largely along party lines. The 229-191 House approval of a bill
introduced last week now sets up a clash with the Senate, where Sen. Dianne
Feinstein, D-Calif., has been promising for some time to introduce her own
ideas.
From: Staff, KGET 17
There's a water fight underway on
Capitol Hill, after a bill passed the House of Representatives Wednesday to
address California's water crisis. The Emergency Water Delivery Act
generated a heated debate between Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
Republicans said the water act
will allow more water to be sent from pumps in the delta, south to San Joaquin
Valley farms and cities.
Two local congressmen, David
Valadao and Kevin McCarthy, are co-sponsors of the water act.
From: Derek Wallbank,
Bloomberg Sustainability
The U.S. House passed legislation
that would allocate more water for irrigation in parts of California to help
ease a worsening drought, a measure opposed by President Barack Obama's
administration.
The vote was 229-191.
"There will be thousands of
individuals in California, there will be cities that will go without water this
year," Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the third-ranking
House Republican, told reporters yesterday.
Federal officials have pledged
another $14 million to help California through its worst drought in recorded
history.
Officials for the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and Natural Resources Conservation Service announced the funding at
a Sacramento news conference on Wednesday that included key state and federal
agencies responding to the drought.
Meetings
From: Staff, Western Farm Press
Top city and water agency
officials will address California's historical drought, including its
anticipated impact and water supply actions, during the World Ag Expo Water
Forum.
The event will be held on the
Thursday of World Ag Expo, Feb. 13, from 12:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. at the
International Agri-Center's Heritage Complex, 4500 South Laspina St., Tulare,
Calif.
WHAT: World Ag Expo Water Forum
WHEN: 2/13/14, 12:30 p.m.
WHERE: International
Agri-Center's Heritage Complex, 4500 South Laspina St., Tulare, Calif.
MORE INFO: www.worldagexpo.com
From: Rob Parsons, Merced
Sun-Star
Water rates, emergency planning
and a drastically shortened growing season will likely be the major themes of a
drought meeting Friday hosted by the Merced Irrigation District.
Friday's meeting is one of
several planned to help farmers plan for what many believe will be a very tough
year. Growers face the worst drought year in memory, with water and snowpack
levels at historic lows. Mike Jensen, MID spokesman, said conditions are
breaking records set in 1903.
WHAT: 2014 Drought Crisis &
Water Supply Outlook meeting
WHEN: 2/7/14, 1 p.m.
WHERE: Sierra Hall at the Merced
County Fairgrounds
MORE INFO: www.mercedid.org
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