Drought
From: Steve Mawhinney,
Sacramento Bee
Re "Hefty overwatering fines
would make it clear California is in a drought" (Editorials, July 14):
Yes, everyone should do their part to reduce overall water consumption and
eliminate wasteful watering habits. Not just during the drought but going
forward.
So when do the folks of
California see the end of gravity irrigation, flooding fields and orchards,
planting water intensive crops and other wasteful practices? So why is it the
users of only 20 percent of the water in the state are pounded and threatened
with fines while the users of the remaining 80 percent continue their wasteful
ways?
Coalition response... There are a few persistent myths that need to be dispelled:
First, California farmers don't
use anywhere near 80% of California's water supply. According to the State's
Department of Water Resources, only 41% of the state's water supply goes to
growing food and fiber. 49% goes to environmental uses, while the rest goes to
our state's cities and industry.
Second, farmers are suffering
from cutbacks as well. They were the first to bear the brunt of surface water
shortages and cuts, and the effects of those shortages are expected to be felt
across rural communities for years to come. California's farmers have been
forced to dip into the groundwater savings accounts in order to survive this
year- it's far from clear they will be able to do the same again next year.
California must find a way to
come together to meet the challenges of this drought, and to prepare not only
for possible future droughts, but the growing population we know is coming.
Drought
From: Staff, KSEE 24
One local food bank is holding a
food drive through August 5th.
[A video report on the ongoing
San Joaquin Valley food drive: "California Water Feeds Our
Communities."]
From: Michael Doyle, McClatchy
DC
California's dogged drought will
cost the state's economy $2.2 billion and an estimated 17,100 jobs, but
consumers will largely be spared higher prices, according to a major study
released Tuesday.
The pain is not felt equally,
experts at the University of California, Davis warn, and there could be more
over the horizon as precious groundwater levels fall in what the study calls
the "greatest water loss ever seen in California agriculture."
From: David Pierson, Los
Angeles Times
California's agricultural
industry is facing $1 billion in lost revenue this year from the state's worst
drought in decades and could pay about $500 million for additional groundwater
pumping, a new study said.
The UC Davis Center for Watershed
Sciences said in a report released Tuesday that the state's drought has reduced
river water for Central Valley farms by roughly one-third their normal level,
increasing the need for groundwater pumping.
From: Jennifer Chaussee,
Reuters
California's drought is expected
to cost the state an estimated $2.2 billion this year, along with a loss of
more than 17,000 jobs, as farmers are forced to fallow some valuable crops, a
report by scientists at the University of California in Davis showed on
Tuesday.
The report stressed the need for
local governments to better manage emergency water reserves, including using
measurement tools to track the amount of groundwater that is used during dry
years and a statewide system for transporting stored water to where it is
needed.
From: Don Thompson, Associated
Press
In one of the most drastic
responses yet to California's drought, state regulators on Tuesday will
consider fines up to $500 a day for people who waste water on landscaping,
fountains, washing vehicles and other outdoor uses.
The rules would prohibit the
watering of landscaping to the point that runoff spills onto sidewalks or
streets. Hosing down sidewalks, driveways and other hard surfaces would be
banned along with washing vehicles without a shut-off nozzle.
From: Staff, Associated Press
Researchers say farmers in
pockets of California hardest hit by the drought could begin to see wells run
dry next year.
The Center for Watershed Sciences
at the University of California, Davis, released the study Tuesday on the
possible impact if the next two years remain dry in California. The study also
says farmers will leave nearly 430,000 acres unplanted this year, costing
California $2.2 billion.
From: Dennis Dimick, National
Geographic
If droughts were hurricanes,
people might pay more attention to them. Droughts can creep up on us with their
prolonged absence of rain, and their effects often are seen as not much more
than cracked ground in dry lake bottoms. Devastating storms can be sudden and
meteorologically exciting, and they make great television. Droughts are
deliberate-a relatively slow evolution in which it can be difficult to capture
the devastation in any one moment.
From: Staff, Contra Costa
Times
The drought's threat to
California's finite supply of groundwater is highlighted in a UC Davis study
released Tuesday in Washington, D.C.
Among the major findings reported
by the school's Center for Watershed Sciences:
-- The drought -- the third most
severe on record -- is responsible for the greatest water loss ever seen in
California agriculture, with river water for Central Valley farms reduced by
roughly one-third.
From: Rick Elkins, Porterville
Recorder
With the impacts of California's
water crisis growing daily, a new study released Tuesday estimated the economic
fallout from the three-year drought will top $2 billion to agriculture alone.
The report from the University of
California, Davis, shows that California agriculture is weathering its worst
drought in decades due to groundwater reserves, but taking water from the
underground supply is not sustainable.
From: Aaron Orlowski, Orange
County Register
On the same day state water
regulators approved daily fines up to $500 for wasting water, scientists
released a report saying the drought will put a $2.2 billion dent this year in
California's economy.
The projected loss for 2014,
according to a report by UC Davis, includes 17,100 jobs statewide. Much of the
impact is in agricultural areas stretching from Northern California to San
Bernardino County.
From: Ian Lovett, New York
Times
With rainfall this year at
historically low levels and reservoirs quickly dwindling, California officials
on Tuesday approved the most drastic measures yet to reduce water consumption
during the state's increasingly serious drought, including fines of up to $500
per day under some circumstances for watering a garden, washing a car or hosing
down a sidewalk.
From: Don Thompson, Associated
Press
Reservoirs are running dry, the
Capitol's lawn has turned brown, and farmers have left hundreds of thousands of
acres unplanted. Even so, many Californians aren't taking the drought
seriously. State water regulators are trying to change that by imposing fines
up to $500 a day for wasting water.
The State Water Resources Control
Board acted Tuesday amid warnings that conditions could get worse if it doesn't
rain this winter.
From: Michael Santos,
Sacramento Bee
Re "Hefty fines would make
clear state in severe drought" (Editorials, July 14): The editorial
board's support of the draconian fine proposed by the elitist State Water Board
comes as no surprise. Instead of going after the big users of the states water
such as agriculture, which use over 85 percent of the state's water, you go
after the small customer who can't defend themselves.
From: Annabelle Beecher,
Peninsula Press
At Stanford University the
fountains are not flowing. But in Central California, known as the "Food
Basket of the World," water is also not flowing and farmers are digging
deep in response. This year, California has received its lowest rainfall in
recorded history. On January 17, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a statewide drought
emergency.
Here on "The Farm,"
springtime fountain hopping was a casualty of the drought. In the Central
Valley, on real farms, livelihoods are threatened, fields are fallow and the
ground is actually sinking.
From: J.N. Sbranti, Modesto
Bee
The Oakdale Irrigation District
hasn't raised its water rates in 30 years, and it was obvious Tuesday that
OID's directors resent a state law requiring them to charge farmers more to
irrigate. "All of this is getting forced on us," board Chairman Steve
Webb repeatedly stated.
Virtually every other California
irrigation district has complied with the Water Conservation Act of 2009, which
requires farmers to pay for water based on how much they use.
Salton Sea
From: Antoine Abou-Diwan,
Imperial Valley Press
An amendment to a federal
spending bill could mean an additional $1 million for Salton Sea environmental
efforts.
The funds, sought by U.S. Rep.
Raul Ruiz (D-Palm Desert), are for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which is
involved in a number of public health projects including the Red Hill Bay
project.
Press Release
From: Staff, State Water
Contractors
Across the state, many of
California's local government, business, and agricultural organizations have
joined the ongoing discussion about the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP).
Several leading labor organizations - including the Southwest Regional Council
of Carpenters, the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades
Council, the Southern California District Council of Laborers and the International
Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 12 - have also weighed in and sent
letters to their elected officials expressing support for the project.
From: Staff, ACWA
Gov. Jerry Brown on July 14
announced several reappointments to the California Water Commission as well as
the new appointment of Armando Quintero, president of the Marin Municipal Water
District Board of Directors.
