Water Supply
From: Peter Waldman, Bloomberg
BusinessWeek
California is parched. The
state's worst drought in decades has left its reservoirs half-naked, if not
skeletal. Officials say 17 communities could run out of drinking water this
summer; some are considering mandatory rationing; and 500,000 acres in the
state may be left fallow. For the first time in its 54-year history, the
California State Water Project-the world's biggest plumbing network and the way
millions of state residents get hundreds of billions of gallons of water-is
essentially shutting down. In 2012 the project moved 815 billion gallons of
fresh water from Northern California's rivers to 25 million people and a
million acres of farmland in the arid central and southern parts of the state.
Last year, the driest on record, the system delivered 490 billion gallons, down
40 percent. This year, the planned water distribution is zero.
From: Staff, KSEE24
There is a chance Valley farmers
could get surface water from the state soon. That's according to Felicia
Marcus, a state water official. During a speech at the Citrus Showcase in
Visalia, she said state and federal water managers are trying to work around
obstacles to free up water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta for
allocations. Many Farmers are currently relying on groundwater but levels are
dropping fast. Others, in places like Terra Bella are in danger of losing trees
if something doesn't change soon.
From: Lewis Griswold, Fresno
Bee
A state water official said
Thursday that despite the "horrifying" drought gripping the state,
there's still a chance that farmers will get San Joaquin River water this
summer instead of the "zero allocation" announced.
"I'm hoping that it's not
going to be zero," Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Resources
Control Board, said at a speech to citrus growers.
The determining factor will be
the freshwater needs of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, she said.
From: Jim Verboon, Visalia
Times-Delta
After years of ignoring
California's water woes, Senator Dianne Feinstein has finally introduced
legislation regarding water deliveries. Unfortunately, the legislation does not
address the federal laws that have caused the problem to begin with. The
Senator's legislation simply requests the administration to take into account
all options to deliver water under the current existing law. I repeat! The
current federal flawed laws are the problem.
Drought
From: Dale Yurong, KFSN-30
Valley farmers aren't the only
ones impacted by the California drought. The drought and the state's ongoing
struggle over water was the focus of a business roundtable.
Recent storms have not changed
this summer's outlook. Hundreds of thousands of acres will go unplanted in the
Valley because of severe cutbacks in water deliveries.
Farmers already feel the pain,
but Westlands Water District general manager Tom Birmingham brought the message
to local business leaders gathered at the exhibit hall in Downtown Fresno.
From: Ian James, Desert
Sun
President Barack Obama has
reauthorized spending on the National Integrated Drought Information System,
enabling the government to continue providing drought warning forecasts and
other support as the extreme dry spell persists across California and much of
the West.
The bill that Obama signed into
law on Thursday will provide funding until 2018 for the federal drought
information system.
Farming News
From: Heather Hacking, Chico
Enterprise-Record
By now, many of us have noticed
impacts of the drought - a dry countryside, fewer grazing cows and water only
upon request at restaurants.
Farmers, however, have been
waiting, and in many cases worrying through the winter.
Northern California crops are
dominated by orchards and rice, which make up the bulk of farm income.
From: Staff, Visalia
Times-Delta
No matter how you look at it,
citrus growers in Tulare County are between a rock and a hard place.
Or more specifically, between and
a drought and a pest. It's not a comfortable spot to be.
Hundreds of growers from Tulare County
and the surrounding area gathered on Thursday morning at California Citrus
Mutual's Annual Showcase, however, to share their concerns and opinions, and to
bolster each other as they fight to save the industry.
Food News
From: Staff, Barbara Cooks
A couple of weeks ago I had an
amazing opportunity to tour three different farms, meet the farmers who run
them and learn about how they grow their produce and use water efficiently. The
California Farm Water Coalition took me and three other wonderful bloggers
through the farming areas of Imperial Valley and Coachella to learn about where
our produce comes from and share all this knowledge with you, our readers! I
had a fabulous time getting to know Kim from LivLife, Priscilla from She's
Cookin' and Jeanne from The Jolly Tomato. I gained a wealth of information that
I will share with you in three posts, the first being this one: "Winters
Salad Bowl".
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