News, Articles, and Links from July 23, 2014

Bay Delta Conservation Plan

Property taxes could pay for $25 billion Delta tunnels without public vote From: Paul Rogers, San Jose Mercury News  Major water districts in California are quietly considering using property taxes -- and possibly raising them without a vote of the public -- to help fund Gov. Jerry Brown's $25 billion plan to build two massive tunnels through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.   Most property tax hikes require a two-thirds vote, as required under California's landmark Proposition 13, which voters passed in 1978. But the water agencies contend they are not bound by that requirement.

Water Supply

TID leaders see how Turlock recycles water   From: John Holland, Modesto Bee Leaders of the Turlock Irrigation District, which has provided Tuolumne River water to the area since 1900, got a look Tuesday at another possible source. They toured the city of Turlock's sewage treatment plant, which turns out water fit for use on crops.

Water Use Efficiency

Water initiative goes from annual to multi-year plan From: Antoine Abou-Diwan, Imperial Valley Press The Imperial Irrigation District has expanded its on-farm water conservation initiative from an annual program to a multi-year endeavor. The program pays Imperial Valley farmers to adopt water-efficient irrigation processes in their fields, like sprinklers and tailwater recovery systems. The board's action Tuesday addressed a common criticism of the program: How can farmers recoup their investments in technology like sprinklers and sub-surface drip irrigation, when the IID offers the program on a rigid, year-by-year basis?

Fisheries

State, feds unveil Central Valley salmon restoration plans From: Matt Weiser, Sacramento Bee State and federal wildlife agencies Tuesday unveiled ambitious plans to restore endangered salmon and steelhead fish in California's Central Valley, including returning them to some habitats where they were shut out decades ago by dams and other development. Although the two plans differ somewhat, officials said they both aim to prevent extinction of three species: endangered Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon, threatened Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon, and threatened Central Valley steelhead.

Groundwater

Merced Irrigation District to pump less groundwater From: J.N. Sbranti, Modesto Bee The Merced Irrigation District expects to pump significantly less groundwater this year than it did last year, in part because the irrigation season will be about eight weeks shorter. "Our projected total is to pump just over 40,000 acre-feet," district General Manager John Sweigard said. His district pumped more than 56,700 acre-feet of groundwater during 2013. By comparison, it pumped 33,465 acre-feet this January through June.

Farmers tap into groundwater reserves From: Dennis Taylor, Salinas Californian Unbridled pumping of well water along the Central Coast and in the Central Valley could have dire consequences for the agricultural economy, according to a new study released by the University of California, Davis. According to the study, titled "Drought Impact Study: California agriculture faces greatest water loss ever seen," Monterey County is faring better than areas around Tulare County and other Central Valley communities. Growers there, after their Water Project was shut down to divert water to people, tapped into ground water basins that are even more perilous than basins here. Groundwater management discussions begin   From: Staff, Porterville Recorder If groundwater management is the wave of the future in California, the Tulare County Supervisors want to make sure they, and local stakeholders, have a say in how it plays out. A proposed state law that would regulate the pumping of groundwater in basins where the water table is being depleted was one of the topics at a 90-minute meeting on water issues Tuesday. The study session was held three years into a severe drought that has curtailed surface water supplies and forced many farmers in the San Joaquin Valley to resort to pumping groundwater for irrigation.

News articles and links from April 7, 2014

Water Supply

California drought puzzle: store or conserve more water?

From: Peter Fimrite, San Francisco Chronicle

There was a time not long ago when much of civilized society considered each drop of river water that reached the ocean a wasted resource.

That was before environmentalists pointed out the benefits of the outflow to fish, wildlife and the ocean ecosystem, setting off an ongoing tug-of-war between fishermen and farmers in California that has reached a critical stage this year as the state struggles through a drought.

California Farmers Look to Oil Industry for Water

From: Lauren Sommer, KQED

With California's reservoirs running low, many Central Valley farmers are struggling to keep their trees and crops alive this year. In the southern San Joaquin Valley, some are getting extra water from an unlikely source: the oil industry. California is the third largest oil-producing state in the country, extracting roughly 200 million barrels a year. But in the process of getting oil, companies also produce massive volumes of water, found naturally in the same underground formations.

"To produce one barrel of oil, we produce about nine barrels of water," says Chevron's Thep Smith, walking around the company's Kern River oil field, east of Bakersfield. Almost 10,000 pump jacks cover the hills. The field is more than a century old, but is still the second-most productive in the state.

MID, TID consider next step on relicensing of Don Pedro Reservoir

From: John Holland, Modesto Bee

The Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts could take another step Tuesday morning toward a new federal license for Don Pedro Reservoir.

Their boards, meeting separately at the same time, will consider filing a final application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The document would include public comment and other information received since they filed a draft application in November.

Water Bond

EDITORIAL: Bond not best solution for California's water future

From: Staff, San Francisco Chronicle

California's drought has set off a frenzy in Sacramento and Washington to see who can pass legislation to gain political leverage and maybe do something to address the state's water problems. Will legislators offer a plan, as they should, that promotes more efficient water use and reuse? Or will they merely continue the battles over supply? Battles apparently are preferred. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has fast-tracked a bill in the Senate that lifts environmental protections to maximize water deliveries to the Central Valley.

In the House, several of California's delegates have proposed building or expanding dams. Each project would cost billions of federal and state dollars, take years to build and presupposes nature will provide enough rain to fill the reservoirs, despite predictions the climate is becoming drier. The federal government hasn't authorized spending on dam building for years and is unlikely to do so now.

Bay Delta Conservation Plan

LETTER: Delta tunnels are just one part of water solution

From: Nancy Vogel, Chico Enterprise-Record

Regarding the editorial about the proposed Sites Reservoir: The Bay-Delta Conservation Plan is not meant to replace necessary storage projects. Rather, it is the most comprehensive and cost-effective effort to date to protect California's water supplies against regulatory and seismic risk. At $14.5 billion over a 50-year period, the water facilities would not deliver more water, but simply move water more effectively.

OPINION: Who pays for reservoirs

From: Peter Jacobsen, Sacramento Bee

Re "Water Projects have many cost questions" (Editorial, March 30): Thanks for your Sunday editorial. Who pays is key. If the water exporters had to pay for tunnels and reservoirs, they would not support them.

I encourage you to discuss costs with the most on-the-hook water agency: Kern County. Since they are part of the State Water Project, they will have to pay the construction costs. Assistant General Manager Brent Walthall is in Sacramento, but he can be a little slick. You might try the general manager or some of their board members. You will find very tepid interest in the tunnels.

Fisheries

For San Joaquin River revival, drought becomes way of life

From: Mark Grossi, Fresno Bee

In the shallow, gently flowing San Joaquin River, three tiny chinook salmon swim into a trap that saves their lives.

Federal biologists Don Portz and Charles Hueth wade across river cobble at Scout Island to fetch the trio and carefully move them into a tank of water for a truck ride more than 100 miles downstream. Over the last few weeks, the biologists have trucked nearly 900 young fall-run salmon to where the Merced River empties into the San Joaquin and reconnects this long river to the Pacific Ocean.

Groundwater

San Joaquin Valley sinking as groundwater stores are depleted

From: Tom Knudson, Sacramento Bee

Flat as a tabletop, the furrowed, brown farm fields east of this San Joaquin Valley town are some of the most productive on Earth.

Every spring, they are planted with a smorgasbord of crops that in one form or another are trucked to grocery stores across America, from fresh juicy tomatoes to freeze-dried onion flakes, honeydew melons to tortilla chips.

Now that bounty is threatened by a crisis of geological proportions: The land is sinking - crippling the region's irrigation and flood control infrastructure and damaging aquifers that are buffers against climate change.

OPINION: Solving California's groundwater problem

From: Jerry Meral, Sacramento Bee

While more visible water conflicts rage in California, such as calls for new dams throughout the Central Valley and disputes over the need for water to save endangered fish, a lesser-known water crisis threatens the viability of much of California's agriculture, and even the water supply of some Central Valley cities. That crisis is over-reliance on water from wells: groundwater overdraft.

Farming News

Farm research fights drought

From: Reed Fujii, Stockton Record

While the skies threatened heavy rains last week, discussions at a USDA research facility here largely focused on what farmers can do to deal with California's generally arid climate, made worse by the current drought.

For example, cover crop and tillage studies at the National Resource Conservation Service Plant Materials Center examine ways to boost the organic content of soil, center manager Margaret Smither-Kopperl said.

News articles and links from April 2, 2014

Delta

Delta protections for fish to be temporarily eased

From: Alex Breitler, Stockton Record

Stare[sic] and federal officials said Tuesday they will temporarily relax protections for fish in the Delta in order to export more water to drought-ravaged farms and cities, the latest in a series of similar actions.

Normally, in a critically dry year like this, a rule kicks in April 1 requiring the amount of water exported from the Delta to be no greater than the amount of water flowing into the Delta via the San Joaquin River.

The rule aims to protect threatened steelhead from getting sucked into the export pumps, and also benefits other fragile species, such as Chinook salmon.

Coalition response... Times of extraordinary crisis, such as this prolonged drought, demand that regulations demonstrate some flexibility to ensure that human needs aren't overwhelmed by rigid bureaucratic rules.  

Regulators have determined that it is a sufficiently low risk to the threatened and endangered species in the Delta, and are permitting human use diversions to be slightly elevated to capture some of the excess storm flows we have seen in recent weeks.

Investing in public infrastructure that can restore the Delta, while stabilizing the water supply of 25 million Californians and almost 4,000 farms growing food and fiber.

California water managers ease delta pumping limits

From: Bettina Boxall, Los Angeles Times

Officials announced Tuesday that they are temporarily waiving an endangered species protection to enable water managers to send more Northern California water south.

The move comes as fishery agencies are under increasing political pressure to take advantage of late winter storms and ramp up pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the center of the state's water distribution system.

Coalition response... Contrary to the rhetoric repeated by lawyers of environmental interest groups, there are no endangered or threatened species being sacrificed by improving the storage of water south of the delta. Fish surveys have shown that the species concerned are not near the pumps used to divert water to California's cities and farms at this time.

Improving the water supply being stored south of the delta will help ensure that these farms and cities have the best chance of weathering this dry period, while preparing for the uncertain water supply of next year.

Improvements in the delta diversion facilities to allow better control over where water is diverted in the Delta, such as the BDCP would help eliminate future risk to the species, restore the delta, and protect the water that 25 million Californians and almost 4,000 family farms depend on.

Drought

California drought: State needs to rethink how it uses water

From: Tim Palmer, San Francisco Chronicle

One peril of being human is that we often respond poorly to crises. Because we now face one of the worst droughts in California history, the stage is set to flirt with error on a scale as colossal as the crisis itself.

The House of Representatives, for example, passed HR3964 in February to indiscriminately move additional Northern California water southward, to abandon restoration of the beleaguered San Joaquin River and to hang our imperiled salmon out to dry. For the first time ever, a National Wild and Scenic River designation would be rescinded - the Merced River below Yosemite our unlikely victim. None of this would ease the drought or solve the problems we face, as noted by Gov. Jerry Brown, who called the bill "unwelcome and divisive."

Coalition response... California farms have never been more efficient in their use of water.

The often-repeated, but thoroughly refuted conservation potential from studies by the Pacific Institute is nothing but a mirage. California's leading irrigation researchers from independent universities have critiqued many of their conclusions, with typical academic understatement, as "incorrect."

Researchers at the Center for Irrigation Technology who actually study irrigation have reported recently that the potential for increased water use efficiency in agriculture is about 1 percent, or 300,000 acre-feet. If vast improvements in irrigation efficiency were still possible we wouldn't be seeing almost 1 million acres of farmland idled this year due to water supply shortages.

People appreciate locally grown foods, and nowhere in the world are a greater variety grown in the volumes necessary to feed our growing population. The rural infrastructure that grows, prepares, and moves, this food relies on the stability of the water rights in California. Rights that promote investment in rural communities, and improvements in agricultural efficiency and productivity.

Groundwater

Water crisis looks a lot like last one, only worse

From: Lois Henry, Bakersfield Californian

Groundwater has officially become the "new black" in California. As the drought drags on, it is this season's "must have." Wells are being dropped like mad, people are worried about subsidence and now the state is talking about ginning up legislation to finally gain some oversight of the wild west that is the world of groundwater. It's enough to make your head spin.

But like almost every fashion craze, this one's just another retread. Oh, yeah -- we've been here before, almost exactly.

Coalition response... Federal environmental regulations affecting the ability to deliver water historically delivered through the Delta are the major reason farmers have returned to groundwater. The projects built over half a century ago are not being operated in the way they were designed, which had drastically reduced surface water deliveries to farms, homes and businesses. That is why overdraft will continue to be an increasing problem for California, not the lack of regulatory oversight.

Water Use

OPINION: California farmers know every drop of water counts

From: Pete Aiello, San Francisco Chronicle

There has been a lot of finger-pointing as California endures a drought, and much of it seems to be directed toward agriculture. Here's how I see it: Plants need water to grow. When farmers "use" water, we are growing healthy, affordable, local food. It doesn't make sense to criticize farmers for using water to grow our food any more than it does to criticize home builders for using wood to build our homes.

As a California farmer, I can say we farmers are judicious with our water use and we do our best to make every drop count. My family's farm started installing drip irrigation systems (think of a hose with microscopic perforations) in 1985. Drip irrigation allows water to be applied in the amount needed and at the exact time it is needed, so there is less waste and the plants respond better. Local experts estimate that 80 percent of local irrigation is done through low-volume irrigation such as drip tape and micro sprinklers.

Water Supply

California Drought Persists, Snowpack Shows

From: Jim Carlton, Wall Street Journal 

Recent wet weather has failed to break California's worst drought in decades, according to measurements showing the state's snowpack stands at about one-third of its normal average. That could result in higher prices nationally for some produce grown in the state, such as nuts, according to food-industry experts.

California has seen more precipitation since February, and in recent days storms have blanketed the state's mountains in several feet of snow. Still, Tuesday's surveys by the Department of Water Resources showed the water content of the snowpack there at 32% of normal. While that is a big jump from a reading of 12% at the end of January, state officials say that with the wet season about to wind down, it isn't enough to end a drought that has prompted mandatory rationing and water cutbacks to farms and cities.

Rain Hitting California To Be Stored For Drought Relief

From: Staff, CBS - LA

Authorities say they are capturing rain falling in the storm lashing California to be used later in what's expected to be a very dry year.

Mark Cowin of the California Department of Water Resources said Tuesday that state and federal officials expect to pump water from the San Joaquin Delta for storage in reservoirs during the next week - or possibly two - depending on the amount of rain that falls.

Drought's not over yet: California storms improve Sierra snowpack, but it remains low

From: Paul Rogers, Contra Costa Times

The much-welcomed storms that hit California this week and over the past month increased the Sierra Nevada snowpack, a critical source of water for cities and farms.

But they didn't end the drought, experts say. They simply improved a disastrous situation to dismal.

On Tuesday, surveyors for the state Department of Water Resources reported the snowpack is 32 percent of average -- the lowest level on April 1 since 1988, when Sierra Nevada snows were at 29 percent of normal. That was the second year of California's last major drought, which lasted five years.

Despite recent storms, Sierra snowpack remains well below normal

From: Philip Reese, Sacramento Bee

These are strange days for California water officials. The penultimate snow survey of the season Tuesday found the Sierra Nevada snowpack holding 32 percent of normal water content - a relatively dismal reading - and yet many of them expressed relief.

A few months earlier, those water officials had feared much worse.

Storms don't melt drought fears

From: Michael Gardner, San Diego Union Tribune

Spring storms delivering desperately needed snow to the Sierra still fell far short of the 1991 "Miracle March" that rescued California from one of its worst droughts on record.

The snowpack came in at less than a third of normal Tuesday, prompting state and federal water managers to reiterate that they have no immediate plans to turn the tap back on for some of their largest customers, including the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California that delivers the vast majority of the San Diego region's supplies.

Drought

California's Drought Adaptations Ease Economic Impact, UCLA Says

From: Alison Vekshin, BusinessWeek

California's experience with recurrent drought has prompted such wide adoption of conservation methods that the current water shortage will have little impact on the state economy, according to a report by the University of California, Los Angeles.

A study of employment and income tax growth found no correlation with rainfall or its lack from 1969 to 2012, according to the UCLA Anderson Forecast.

Turlock district again postpones start of irrigation

From: John Holland, Modesto Bee

Thanks to the early spring storms, the Turlock Irrigation District has postponed the start of 2014 water deliveries until at least April 10. The delay, announced Tuesday, could help farmers stretch a Tuolumne River supply that is expected to be tight because of the drought.

The Modesto Irrigation District, TID's partner on the river, is scheduled to start deliveries Sunday, but that could be moved to a later date based on weather, spokeswoman Melissa Williams said Tuesday.

Surface Water 

OID will consider expanding into eastern Stanislaus if farmers pay for it

From: J.N. Sbranti, Modesto Bee

A possible way to reduce groundwater pumping in eastern Stanislaus County's rapidly expanding agricultural region was proposed Tuesday: Start delivering surplus Oakdale Irrigation District water there.

OID's governing board voted to have its staff meet with farmers from Paulsell Valley - in northeast Waterford - to discuss options for supplying them irrigation water.

CFWC statement on DWR snow survey announcement

(The following is a statement by Executive Director Mike Wade of the California Farm Water Coalition in response to today's snow survey by the Department of Water Resources.)

"Today's announcement that California's snowpack is a mere 32 percent of normal is continued bad news for farmers throughout California that grow the food consumers find at the store. With the state's major reservoirs only half full there is little chance that farmers will be able to recover from this year's dismal water supply.

"Along with the looming hot summer, farmworkers, truck drivers, food processors and handlers and others will face layoffs and difficult economic times. An estimated 20,000 farm and farm-related jobs will be lost this year costing California's economy about $7.5 billion.

"Sadly, hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water flowing through the Delta from the few recent storms to hit California will not be used to grow crops. Federal regulations and inflexible environmental water managers prevented that water from being put into storage for use later in the year. Instead, while posing no threat to Delta fish species, water pumps were left to run at a minimum while the water flowed by to the ocean.

"We're through the looking glass. The water system our predecessors built to provide for farms, homes and businesses is instead being used to support environmental purposes that have absolutely no accountability. People need to think about that when grocery prices spike this summer or the produce they find on the shelves is imported from offshore sources."

News articles and links from March 31, 2014

Water Supply 

EDITORIAL: Water storage, conveyance projects abound

From: Staff, Sacramento Bee

Last week's rain notwithstanding, the drought should act to concentrate Californians on water and how to create a reliable water system.

Instead, it is spawning isolated proposals with little attention to cost and who would pay.

In one direction, Gov. Jerry Brown favors a new "conveyance" with his proposed twin tunnels project. The capital cost of the two 40-foot-diameter, 30-mile-long tunnels around or under the Delta is estimated to total $19.9 billion in 2012 dollars. Borne by whom? People benefiting from the project, the water contractors south of the Delta? The comment period on this proposal ends on April 14.

Coalition response... It's important to keeps the facts on the table regarding California water supply planning and cost allocation.

Funding for new water supply projects is based on a "beneficiary pays" principle. Water users are willing and in fact have been paying for all of the planning costs so far for BDCP. When it comes time for construction, water users will pay for the parts that are associated with water supply. The public part of the project, including ecosystem activities, etc., would be funded by a publicly-approved water bond.

Sites reservoir, while not part of the BDCP planning process, is nonetheless an important facility to help California meet water quality and water supply needs into the future. It's encouraging to see Congressmen LaMalfa and Garamendi working together to help push this project forward. California has big challenges and it is going to take multiple, independent efforts like this and others to restore water supply and reliability to our state. Conservation and recycling are important but they're not enough to provide for California's water needs far into the future.

Bigger Dams Won't Make California Greener

From: Staff, BloombergView

California's northern rivers are so low that young Chinook salmon have to be trucked on their journey to the Pacific Ocean. Yet to listen to some farmers and their political allies, you would think the fish, shielded by environmental law, are doing fine, while the state's $45 billion agricultural economy is being sucked dry by the epic drought.

Their solution: build huge tunnels, expand big dams (federally subsidized, of course) and pipe more water from the relatively wet north to the dry south. But Mother Nature is sending a different message: California can't count on having bounties of water to meet all the claims on it.

Coalition response... Far from minor, the upheaval proposed by this editorial is massive in scale, based on faulty, biased research, and would result in continued destabilization of agricultural production in California. Farmers recognize and appreciate the sacrifices being made by our cities and rural communities to help get through this drought together.

California agricultural water use is not 80% of the state's water claimed, it's not even 80% of the water humans are managing. California allocates 50% of available water (water humans actively manage) to environmental purposes. Agriculture uses 41% to grow food and fiber, and has improved the productivity of the water used by nearly doubling production between 1967 and 2007 while reducing water use by 14%. These are only the readily quantifiable benefits of agricultural water use, and exclude the ecosystem benefits of crops such as rice whose flood irrigation help to sustain migrating birds on the Pacific Flyway.  

Claims that California agriculture can conserve 15% of the water it uses have been widely scorned by professional researchers at California's leading public irrigation research organizations. The Center for Irrigation Technology at CSU Fresno reports the actual conservation potential from California agriculture is about 300,000 acre feet, or about 1 percent of typical applied water.

Past public investments in irrigation infrastructure have brought substantial economic benefit to the people of our state and our nation but changing environmental laws have allowed enough water for 3.5 million people to flow to the ocean this year. That water could have been stored for future use. The preparation of past generations has given us the tools needed to become the ninth largest economy in the world - preparing California for future generations is the challenge we face today.

Water Supply

Who should get water deliveries divides California lawmakers

From: Michael Doyle, McClatchy DC

Seasonal storms have exposed once more some perennial political divisions over California water.

Citing the latest rainfall, seven of the state's lawmakers are urging the Obama administration to free up more irrigation deliveries for San Joaquin Valley farms. The muscular Capitol Hill lineup is noticeable both for who's on it and who's not.

In a telling alliance, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein joined with House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield and four other House Republicans, as well as one House Democrat, in calling for increased deliveries.

OPINION: Water rally a positive step

From: Cannon Michael, Merced Sun-Star 

It's no secret that our water system is severely broken, but denying water rights and reallocating water is not the answer. And though our voices have been heard by the state Water Resources Control Board, continued action and pressure is still needed to ensure water deliveries to our Central Valley farmers.

Water is the Central Valley's lifeblood. The state water board must understand that withholding water would cause catastrophic consequences, including fallowed farmland, skyrocketing unemployment and an increasingly unstable and costly food supply in our Central Valley, our state and beyond.

Eliminating our water deliveries is not only foolish, it's dangerous.

LETTER: Water shortage dire

From: Peter Jensen, Riverside Press-Enterprise

On Tuesday March 25, I was amazed at how poorly informed ex-representative Tom Campbell's recent op-ed regarding California's water problems was. He acts as if the only reason heavily-discounted water is not supplied to Central Valley farmers is because of the little Delta Smelt. The reasons that cheap water is no longer being pumped to these farmers are myriad. We have all been asked to conserve due to a drought.

OPINION: Spend the money on water storage

From: Fred Hogan, Redding Record-Searchlight

PRIORITIES: What is the common sense approach to California's water problems? Should we spend billions on the train to nowhere, or better yet maybe on some much needed water storage? If we put this to a vote which one do you think wins? Remember common sense!

Groundwater

Farms now digging deeper for water

From: Lisa Krieger, San Jose Mercury News

So wet was the San Joaquin Valley of Steve Arthur's childhood that a single 240-foot-deep well could quench the thirst of an arid farm.

Now his massive rig, bucking and belching, must drill 1,200 feet deep in search of ever-more-elusive water to sustain this wheat farm north of Bakersfield. As he drills, his phone rings with three new appeals for help.

"Everybody is starting to panic," said Arthur, whose Fresno-based well-drilling company just bought its ninth rig, off the Wyoming oil fields. "Without water, this valley can't survive."

After years of overpumping groundwater, state may be ready for reforms

From: Paul Rogers, San Jose Mercury News

For nearly 50 years, California has passed sweeping environmental laws that limit private property for the common good -- from the nation's toughest automobile pollution standards to curbs on clear-cutting forests to rules requiring that developers keep beaches open to the public.

However, when it comes to preserving one of the state's most critical and politically divisive resources -- billions of gallons of groundwater that are vital to farms and cities -- California lawmakers and voters have done almost nothing.

Drought

The $9.99 watermelon: Drought poised to send food prices up

From: Dennis Wyatt, Manteca Bulletin

Sticker shock, courtesy of the drought, is coming to a supermarket near you. Seedless watermelon was selling Monday at SaveMart stores in Manteca for $9.99. It is a full $2 over prices from the same time period in 2013.

And while the price reflects the scarcity of watermelon that are now coming out of a specific region in Mexico, it is an indicator of higher food prices that are in store for California and American consumers as a whole thanks to the drought. The assumption by some that fruit and vegetables from elsewhere will replace California crops with minimum impact on prices fails to take into account production issues in other regions of the globe plus worldwide consumer demand.

LETTER: Farmers are doing their part on water

From: Tom Nassif, Los Angeles Times

It's deceptive to say that agriculture uses 75% of "the water used in the state" without adding "for human use."

According to the California State Water Plan, urban use accounts for 11% and agriculture 41%; environmental use accounts for 48%. This is the developed water supply that can be managed and controlled.

Water Quality 

Central Valley farmers need to report practices

From: John Holland, Modesto Bee

Farmers are filling out a four-page survey that will help assess how well they are keeping pesticides and fertilizers out of waterways.

The East San Joaquin Water Quality Coalition has set a May 1 deadline for completion of the surveys, which involve most of the irrigated land east of the San Joaquin River in Stanislaus, Merced and Madera counties.

Delta 

State plans to maintain Delta water quality detailed

From: Staff, Stockton Record

Skeptical Delta landowners heard details Thursday night of a state plan to install four rock barriers in the estuary, an effort to block salinity from San Francisco Bay and allow officials to hold back more water in reservoirs this summer.

Without the barriers, three major reservoirs would sink to "dead pool" levels before the coming dry season ends, the Department of Water Resources' Paul Marshall said at a meeting of the Delta Protection Commission in Stockton.