Farming
From: Alastair Leithead, BBC News - L.A.
While historic winter storms have
battered much of the US, California is suffering its worst drought on record.
So why is America's most valuable farming state using billions of gallons of
water to grow hay - specifically alfalfa - which is then shipped to China?
The reservoirs of California are
just a fraction of capacity amid the worst drought in the state's history.
"This should be like Eden right now," farmer John Dofflemyer says,
looking out over a brutally dry, brown valley as his remaining cows feed on the
hay he's had to buy in to keep them healthy.
Coalition response... An important factor that escapes Professor Glennon of Arizona College of
Law who is concerned about California water used to grow exported farm products
is that every consumer product that comes to the U.S. is "importing"
water that was used to produce it somewhere else in the world. Whether crops go
to Asia or shoes come to the U.S., the idea that we are importing or exporting
water is essentially a meaningless argument. We live in a world that depends on
dynamic trade to fuel the economies that feed, clothe and employ all of
us...including Professor Glennon.
From: Robert Balthasar, Long Beach Press-Telegram
"Re "California drought: Why is there no mandatory water
rationing?" (Feb. 16):
People quoted in the article lay
all the responsibility of water conservation on the gullible homeowners. Notice
how many previously paved medians in Long Beach are now planted (such as those
on Lakewood Boulevard, Carson Street and Atherton Street). And many people may
have missed that California wine growers had a record harvest this year. Farming
in an arid state siphons off 80 percent of the available water."
Coalition response... It is important to remember that California is one state and farmers
that use water to grow food are adding to its economy in significant ways. The
water farmers use, which is actually 41 percent (not 80 percent) of our
dedicated water supply, isn't used at anyone else's "expense," as the
writer alleges. Water is a public resource with rights administered by the
State Water Resources Control Board through a system that has stood the test of
time for more than 150 years. Farmers are constantly improving water use
efficiency and have reduced applied water by over 14 percent in recent decades.
At the same time production efficiency has increased the volume of crops grown
in the state by 85 percent. That benefits consumers who pay just 6.2 percent of
their disposable incomes on food and non-alcoholic beverages. That's compared
to 28 other high-income countries where food costs are 10.2 percent of the
family budget. At the same rate, American consumers would pay an additional
$3,820 per year to feed their families. That is a huge benefit that California
farmers help bring to the table.
Water Supply
From: Staff, KCRA 3
Gov. Jerry Brown and other state
leaders will announce emergency drought legislation on Wednesday. It was not
immediately known what legislation the governor will introduce.
Last month, with the state facing
one of the most severe droughts on record, Brown declared a drought State of
Emergency while asking residents to voluntarily cut back on water use.
Just last week, Brown met with
President Barack Obama about much needed federal support during the ongoing
drought.
From: Todd Fitchette, Western Farm Press
Consensus may have reached a
crescendo regarding California's epic drought, but political partisanship
raises concern over whether short-term and long-term fixes needed can ever be
achieved.
Fifteen people participated in
two panel discussions at the World Ag Expo Water Summit in Tulare, Calif. Their
opinions on the impacts to California growers and communities ranged from
"dire" to "catastrophic."
From: Antoine Abou-Diwan, Imperial Valley Press
Officials are calling on
California residents to conserve water as the state adjusts to what may be the
worst drought in history. Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency in
January and asked residents to cut water use by 20 percent.
Fourteen consecutive years of
drought along the Colorado River have squeezed water supplies even as urban areas
continue to grow.
From: Staff, Chico Enterprise Record
Our view: We hope President
Barack Obama's visit to drought ground zero last week made people realize we
need to work together.
Firebaugh is off the beaten
track, but the Central Valley community outside Fresno was in the national
spotlight last week when President Barack Obama chose the city as the place to
see the state's drought.
Groundwater
From: Mark Grossi, Fresno Bee Blog
A west San Joaquin Valley farmer
told me he would pay $1,000 an acre-foot for as much water as he could get. But
he can't find any.
In Kern County, a water auction
last week attracted a top price of $1,350 per acre-foot. In many places, that's
10 times the usual cost. It's desperation time in this historic drought.
Salton Sea
From: Ker Than, National Geographic News
Standing atop a rocky outcrop on
the southeastern edge of the Salton Sea in southern California, Bruce Wilcox
pointed to the wooden ruins of a boat dock that dates back to the 1960s, when
the region was a marina that attracted sport fishermen and celebrities. On a
sunny day last December, the dock sat hundreds of feet from the water, rendered
obsolete by the shoreline's steady withdrawal. No boats were visible anywhere
on the shimmering blue water.
"The marina's been dry for
the last five or six years," said Wilcox, 60, the environmental manager
for the Imperial Irrigation District (IID), which manages water and energy in
California's Imperial Valley and has energy customers in the Eastern Coachella
Valley.
Bay Delta
Conservation Plan
From: John Holland, Modesto Bee
The federal government plans
sharp water cutbacks for four West Side irrigation districts that until now had
not suffered major effects from the drought.
The districts, which stretch
across about 225,000 acres from Crows Landing to Mendota, are projected to get
just 40 percent of their contracted amounts from the federal Central Valley
Project this year.
The allocation is better than the
zero water some federal contractors on the West Side face, but it nonetheless
is a blow to farmers who have enjoyed some of the most secure water supplies in
the region.
Water Pricing
From: J.N. Sbranti, Modesto Bee
Oakdale farmers soon will have to
start paying for their water based on how much they use, not just how much land
they irrigate.
That's not currently the case,
but state regulations will force the Oakdale Irrigation District to replace its
flat-rate pricing with a volume-based structure. The goal is to give farmers a
financial incentive to save water. The OID is among the last irrigation
districts in the region to make the switch.
Regional Storage
From: Staff, KSEE 24
All eyes are on the Central
Valley's water crisis after President Obama flew in to see the drought impact
firsthand. Plans for the construction of a new $12 million reservoir near
Woodlake would prevent excess water from flowing downstream. An artist
rendering of the proposed McKay Point Reservoir shows the area that would have
to first be dug up.
"The general tax payers if
you will, would not be financially exposed to this project whatsoever,"
said Tulare Irrigation District Manager Paul Hendrix. The property owners
Tulare Irrigation District, Consolidated Peoples Ditch Company, and the Visalia
and Kaweah Water Company would pay for construction by selling the dirt and
rocks that are mined out of the basin.
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