Drought
From: John Upton, grist.com
California has a radical plan for
managing its rivers and reservoirs as drought grips the Golden State for the
third consecutive year. It could help the state cling to water that would
normally flush through rivers and into the Pacific Ocean - at the expense of
wildlife and fishing folk who rely on the health of those rivers.
The seven-and-a-half-month plan,
developed in consultation with federal officials, doesn't increase the amount
of water that will be delivered to customers, but it makes major changes to how
precious drops remaining in snowpacks, reservoirs, and rivers will be managed.
Coalition response... In periods of severe drought, everyone will be impacted by water
shortages. California's commercial fishing industry, recreational boaters
and fishing enthusiasts included. For decades in-delta water quality has
benefited from flows provided by the State and federal water projects
regardless of water shortages elsewhere within the projects' service area.
This is especially true in the
late summer and fall. During the third dry year in a row and long after human
users are no longer able to rely on deliveries from our state's infrastructure,
the projects might also fail to satisfy the desires of those who want more
water released for fisheries. Water managers are working hard to protect the
environment - with refuges served by the Central Valley Project receiving 40-
75% allocations, while farmers still receive none.
From: Carolyn Lochhead, San
Francisco Chronicle
Sen. Dianne Feinstein called on
reluctant GOP senators Thursday to support her drought bill, which she altered
earlier this month to win support from Central Valley House Republicans.
The California Democrat has been
pushing hard to get more water to San Joaquin Valley farms, urging federal
agencies to relax environmental rules to do so.
Coalition response... Elected officials are charged with representing the needs and interests
of their constituents, a difficult challenge for Senators in a state as diverse
as California. Elected officials, unlike agency staff are accountable to the
constituents they represent, and as such are the appropriate ones to engage in
policy-making. When a law or other policy isn't working, they have the
responsibility to evaluate it and make the necessary changes.
Environmental interest groups
like the Bay Institute seem to want flexibility by everyone but themselves.
There is little care for the people who are standing in food lines because no
water is being delivered to support their jobs. In extreme years like this you
would hope that even the most ardent environmental activists would show a
little humanity.
From: Chris Clarke, KCET
A joint state and federal drought
management plan released this week for the summer includes bad -- but not
particularly surprising -- news for the Central Valley's wetlands.
The plan reaffirms that wildlife
refuges and other managed wetlands in the California's largest valley will
receive just 40 percent of the water from the federal Central Valley Project (CVP) in 2014 that
they get in a typical year.
From: Tim Hearden, Capital
Press
Despite more late-season storms
in California, state and federal water planners weren't ready April 9 to start
sending water to farms without senior water rights.Agencies maintained zero-water
allocations for State Water Project and federal Central Valley Project
contractors as they unveiled a comprehensive drought management plan to guide
them through the remainder of 2014.
Officials said new allocations
could still come in the next couple of weeks as they examine improved March
runoff and an April 1 snowpack survey that was conducted amid a rather prolific
snowstorm in the Sierra Nevada range.
From: Alan Bjerga,
BusinessWeek
The drought that is withering
vegetable and fruit crops in California may push up food prices more than the
dry spell that ravaged the Corn Belt in 2012, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom
Vilsack said.
That's because the current crisis
has brought planting in California to a near-halt, while corn and soybean crops
were still being produced during the 2012 drought, he said.
"It's simply because folks
aren't planting," Vilsack told reporters today after a discussion at the
Council on Foreign Relations in New York. That may force the U.S. to rely on
more-expensive imports of perishable goods, he said.
From: David Castellon, Visalia
Times-Delta
Even though it's spring,
temperatures have already passed the 90-degree mark in the Valley, which has
added to worries that one of the worst droughts in California's history seems
likely to continue through the summer.
Expectations are that thousands
of acres of crops may be lost because of lack of water, which in turn could
cost numerous jobs both in and outside the agricultural industry, a decline in
home buying and a slowdown in retail sales.
Water Supply
From: Rich Atwater, Los
Angeles Daily News
Earthquakes have been shaking
things up around the Southland, reminding long-term residents and transplants
alike that we live in an earthquake-prone region and that a devastating quake
could strike at any time. While scientists say a major quake is inevitable, we
as a state are woefully unprepared for the next disaster.
Nowhere is this more evident than
in our water supply. The hub of our state's water supply is protected by a
series of 100-year-old dirt levees that have grown dangerously fragile over
time and are increasingly vulnerable to a major quake.
Meetings
From: Donna Jones, Santa Cruz
Sentinel
Pajaro Valley farmers are on
track to break irrigation records in 2014 after tapping groundwater at
unusually high levels during the first quarter of the year. Drought drove
demand, and the combination of inadequate rainfall and heavy irrigation is
adding stress to a strained groundwater basin.
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