Groundwater
From: Kevin Fagan, San
Francisco Chronicle
Case Vlot pulls up groundwater
through deep wells to keep his corn and alfalfa crops alive. Chase Hurley runs
a water company nearby that sells river water to farmers who can't depend on
wells. Normally the two would rarely talk to each other.
But that was before the drought,
and before the land began to sink beneath their feet. Now they and every farmer
for miles around are talking to each other all the time, brainstorming in ways
they've never had to before.
From: David Pierson, Los
Angeles Times
On a dusty clearing between a
fallow wheat field and wilting orange groves, Steve Arthur's crew of two
mud-splattered well drillers worked furiously to deliver a lifeline to another
despondent farmer.
Using a diesel-powered rig that
rumbled like a moving subway car, the workers bore deeper and deeper into the
packed clay in hopes of tapping a steady supply of groundwater - about the only
source of water that remains for many growers in this parched rural community
about 40 miles north of Bakersfield.
From: Staff, Long Beach
Press-Telegram
"Everyone's talking about
water. For once, they're saying the same thing" is the motto of a
California group called the Groundwater Voices Coalition.
Well, not exactly saying the same
thing when it comes to all things water in our state. Just mention the prospect
of an upcoming water bond, for instance, and you've got the same old fighting
words: Too much! Not enough! Not a dime for Delta tunnels!
Water Supply
From: David Mas Masumoto,
Sacramento Bee
Can the current drought in
California make us smarter? Many are feeling the pain of a dwindling supply of
water: Farmland sits idle; jobs are lost; cities are forced to make conservation
efforts; politicians grope for solutions. Beyond the rhetoric of who stands
first in line for this fluid treasure and how best to allocate a scare
resource, the reality is that we live in an arid land and climate change will
force us to live and work differently. But are we wiser?
From: Peter Gleick, San
Francisco Chronicle
If California and much of the
West is suffering from severe drought, then why have the responses to it been
weak and largely ineffective? The answers are as complicated as California's
water system itself, with our wildly diverse sources and uses of water, prices
and water rights, institutions, and more. But here are some observations.
From: William Welch, USA
Today
Even for a regular like Allen
Keeten, who has been visiting here since the late 1970s, the retreating
shoreline of Lake Mead behind Hoover Dam is a shock to witness.
"I hate to see it,'' the
58-year-old truck driver from Kenesaw, Neb., says, peering over the side of the
massive concrete dam on the Colorado River. "Nowadays you've got to be
careful when you are out on a boat because of all the exposed ground.''
Water Bond
From: Steven Frisch,
Sacramento Bee
Before they left Sacramento for
summer recess, legislators said they would work together to hammer out a new
water bond bill when they returned in August. This would replace the $11.14
billion proposal currently on the November ballot, which has already been
delayed twice.
Although legislators and Gov.
Jerry Brown have put forward conflicting ideas that may be difficult to
reconcile, we have confidence our leadership can get the job done. But it will
be up to us to hold our elected leaders accountable because if they don't pass
a workable water bond deal, we risk devastating consequences.
From: Cannon Michael, Modesto
Bee
With California continuing to
endure three straight years of drought with no end in sight, we must have a new
water bond that provides us a safe and reliable water supply. We know that the
state will continue to grow in population and the demand for water will
increase. Even after the negotiations to pass a new bond failed in June, I am
pleased that legislators like Sen. Anthony Cannella, R-Ceres, have taken such
an active role in keeping the water bond discussion alive.
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