Fisheries
From: Carolyn Lochhead, SFGate.com
Sen. Dianne Feinstein's revised
drought bill is coming under increasing attack from the left even as the
California Democrat tries to woo Republicans to speed the bill's passage
through the Senate without committee consideration.
More than a dozen environmental
groups, including Sierra Club California, Audubon California, Environmental
Defense Fund and the Natural Resources Defense Council, issued a letter late
Monday demanding changes to the revised bill, S.2198.
Coalition response... Isn't it disingenuous for environmental organizations to defend
commercial salmon fishing while at the same time demand farm water pumping
restrictions because of the impact it might have on salmon?
On the other hand, if it's an
economic argument let's look at the numbers.
According to a 2009 CBS News
report, California's salmon industry is worth about $82 million in economic
activity based on $22 million worth of salmon caught in rivers and the ocean.
Environmental activists justify reducing farm water deliveries to prop up an
industry that contributes less that $100 million to the state's economy. At the
same time, farm water cuts stand to put almost 30,000 people out of work, based
on farm-related employment estimates in a 2004 report by the Pacific Institute.
The cost to California's economy this year from lost farm production, jobs and
associated business activity is 60 times ($5 billion) the economic value of
salmon.
Are salmon important to
California? Absolutely. Is commercial salmon fishing comparable to the jobs and
economic activity generated by farming? No.
Water Use
From: Tom Pfingsten, San Diego
Union-Tribune
The size of the trees was
probably the first thing Kurt and Jennifer Bantle noticed about the grove that
would all but consume their weekends and most of their waking thoughts after
they decided to become avocado farmers.
"The trees were 40, 50, 60
feet tall," Kurt Bantle said on a recent afternoon. "Best I can tell,
they were put in during the early '80s."
Coalition response... California's growers have long sought to address the water problems the
Bantle's are facing in their grove. Scientific irrigation, used in most
modern production agriculture seeks to optimize not only the quantity of water
applied through the use of laser leveled fields, drip emitters and buried
irrigation tape, but also the timing of the irrigation. The Bantle's will
undoubtedly be looking into the different soil moisture monitoring equipment
being used by growers to ensure that water is being used as efficiently as
possible. Water too much, and you risk not just wasted water, but
promoting plant diseases; water too little, and the crop is a bust. The
best of luck to the Bantle's as they pursue a bountiful crop.
Drought
From: Eric Morath, Wall Street
Journal
Grocery shoppers may soon need
more green in their wallets to afford their next salad. The cost of fresh
produce is poised to jump in the coming months as a three-year drought in
California shows few signs of abating, according to an Arizona State University
study set to be released Wednesday.
The study found a head of lettuce
could increase in price as much as 62 cents to $2.44; avocado prices could rise
35 cents to $1.60 each; and tomatoes could cost 45 cents more at $2.84 per
pound. (The run-up in produce prices is in line with other projections showing
that overall food cost gains are expected to accelerate this year.)
From: Paul Rogers, San Jose
Mercury News
Nearly nine out of 10
Californians say the state is suffering from a "serious water
shortage," according to a new poll that confirms widespread concern over
the lack of rain, diminished Sierra snowpack and low reservoir levels after
three years of drought.
But deep, decades-old divisions
remain across the state on how to solve the dilemma, the statewide Field Poll
of 1,000 registered voters found - with the biggest differences being between
the Bay Area and the Central Valley.
From: Tom Vacar, KTVU
A clearer picture is emerging
about how much more nagging drought is going to cost consumer shopping for
produce this spring and summer. It will take more of your green to get greens
at the market. California is the nation's produce basket.
Melanie Snell, who took her kids
to the Alameda Farmers Market Tuesday, was aware the drought would soon affect
produce prices.
From: Jeremy White, Sacramento
Bee
Californians agree their state is
parched, but they diverge by region on how supplies dried up and what should be
done about the drought.
"There's clearly a consensus
that the state has a serious water shortage," Field Poll director Mark
DiCamillo said of a survey on the subject released Tuesday. "There,
however, is no consensus to what got us into this situation."
Groundwater
From: Randy Record & David
Orth, Sacramento Bee
It's the height of the spring
planting season in the San Joaquin Valley. But this year, the sight of
well-digging rigs is adding a new dimension to a problem quietly unfolding
beneath large swaths of this fertile land.
Faced with the prospect of
receiving little or no surface water due to drought, growers are relying on
groundwater like never before to stay afloat this year. It's a symptom of a
problem that is sparking new levels of concern among the state's water
managers."
Water Supply
From: Dennis Wyatt, Manteca
Bulletin
Water Manteca residents send down
the drain could one day help irrigate South County crops. Manteca Councilman
Steve DeBrum convinced his colleagues Tuesday to have staff explore working
with the South San Joaquin Irrigation District to see if 7 million gallons of
treated wastewater the city releases back into the San Joaquin River could
instead be diverted for local farm use.
Mayor Willie Weatherford believes
100 acres designated for open space as part of the 1,471-home Trails of Manteca
neighborhood being pursued south of Woodward Avenue and west of
McKinley Avenue could be used to create a large holding lake for treated
wastewater. From there, the SSJID could pump it into its delivery system
serving farmland south of the city. At the same time, the manmade lake
could also help recharge underground water tables that ultimately are tapped by
Lathrop and Manteca municipal well systems.
From: Rob Parsons, Merced
Sun-Star
Irrigation district officials on
Tuesday formally requested more water from state authorities as part of a
complex proposal that would extend the drought-shortened growing season, help
migrating fish and possibly provide the cash-strapped district with an extra $5
million.
After Tuesday's vote by the
Merced Irrigation District board of directors, irrigation officials will pursue
a request with the state Water Resources Control Board to relax the so-called
minimum pool requirement at Lake McClure.
From: John Holland, Modesto
Bee
Farmers in the Modesto Irrigation
District got a 10 percent increase in their basic water rate Tuesday, along
with a temporary drought surcharge that's much bigger.
The board also capped 2014 water
deliveries at 24 vertical inches per acre - better than the 18 inches that had
been planned, but still far less than the average of 42 inches since 1989. Even
with the increases, MID has some of the cheapest water in the San Joaquin
Valley, and this year's allotment is much better than what some farmers in the
region face.
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