Water Rights
From: J.N. Sbranti, Modesto
Bee
Some folks simply don't trust
state leaders when it comes to protecting their water rights.
The State Water Resources Control
Board this month is expected to "curtail" river diversions for those
who established their water rights more than 100 years ago. That includes flows
down the Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced rivers, which the Northern San Joaquin
Valley's big irrigation districts depend on to supply farmers with water.
From: Staff, Modesto Bee
Water. Even in a drought, it's
our saving grace; our hedge against all bets. If you live in Turlock, Modesto,
Merced, Manteca or Oakdale, the value of water is not an abstract.
Neither is reliability. Most of
our farmland has reliable water. That's why it costs more, produces more and
generates more taxes than farmland outside irrigation districts. That
reliability is based on rights, most of which were established before 1914, to
use water from the Tuolumne, Stanislaus and Merced rivers. Now, the reliability
of those rights is under assault.
Drought
From: Staff, Arizona Republic
In the West, where the most
valuable of all assets is water and the most dire of all environmental threats
is drought, the western region of California's Central Valley is uniquely in
peril.
This 4 million acres of
agricultural bounty is threatened not by one source of drought, but two.
There is the terrible and lengthy
natural drought, in which Arizona shares. And there is the man-made drought.
The latter largely is a consequence of infrastructure neglect and a series of
court decisions backed by environmental groups, the most important of them
intended to protect a small bait fish unique to the delta south of San
Francisco.
From: Staff, Los Angeles Times
Masquerading as a response to
California's drought, a bill to waive environmental protections and divert more
water to Central Valley agriculture passed the Republican-controlled House in
February and is now going to conference to be reconciled with a competing bill
by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that the Senate adopted last month.
From: Staff, Motley Fool
If you can't water the crops, you
can't grow produce or the hay to feed cattle. That's why companies like
Chipotle Mexican Grill have been complaining about rising prices for both
produce and meat. It's a problem that the U.S. Department of Agriculture says
is going to get worse.
Mike Wade, executive director of
the California Farm Water Coalition (CFWC), explained to Modern Farmer that a
drought induced price hit, "may not be 5 or 6 months from now -- it might
be tomorrow." That's because key products like broccoli, lettuce, and bell
peppers have already seen production fall.
Water Supply
From: Staff, KMPH
Thousands of water curtailment
notices are now in mailboxes across the state.
The State Water Resources Control
Board is telling junior water-rights holders to stop diverting water from the
state's main water sheds. Cutoff notices went out to about 2,700 junior
water-rights holders in the Sacramento River watershed, as well as 1,600 for
the San Joaquin River and 700 for the Russian River. According to the Board,
those watersheds don't have enough water to serve all water rights holders.
Water Bond
From: Sharon Bernstein,
Reuters
As California struggles through
its third year of drought, nearly half of state residents said they would be
willing to pay higher water bills to ensure a more stable supply, a new poll
showed on Friday.
The poll, released by the
University of Southern California and the Los Angeles Times, comes as lawmakers
in the most populous U.S. state are fighting over ways to ease the drought's
impact. Some have called for increased spending to build reservoirs and
underground storage, while others have stressed conservation.
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