Groundwater
From: Staff, Sacramento Bee
This has to be the year that
California finally starts to regulate groundwater. It has to be.
Not since the drought of 1977
have water resources been in such dire straits. To cope, the state is taking
drastic steps when it comes to surface water. Last week, the State Water
Resources Control Board ordered more than 4,200 "junior" water rights
holders in the Sacramento and San Joaquin watersheds to stop pumping water from
streams and warned that, if things got worse, "senior" water rights
holders might see restrictions as well.
Coalition response... Farmers and water districts around the state acknowledge that new
groundwater management practices are necessary. The Association of California
Water Agencies recently released its Recommendations for Achieving Groundwater
Sustainability. Nine of the 14 members of the committee that developed the
recommendations represent agricultural water suppliers. ACWA's recommendations
are very similar to those issued at about the same time by the California Water
Foundation, an independent water policy think-tank. The agricultural community
is also working actively with both Sen. Fran Pavley and Assm. Roger Dickinson
on their respective bills to improve groundwater management in California. In
fact, the Valley Ag Water Coalition was actually the FIRST organization to
propose language that would allow local government to impose fees on
groundwater pumping to fund local improvements with dollars coming from
groundwater pumping activities.
It is also important to realize
that groundwater overdraft is not a new occurrence in California. The State and
federal water projects were originally constructed, in part, to overcome
long-term groundwater overdraft. And the projects were successful in achieving
that until 1992 when project water began to be repurposed to meet new
environmental objectives. That has had a significant effect on water users to
the point that we are delivering less water to farms, homes and businesses this
year than we did in 1977, the driest year on record. An entire agricultural
economy in the San Joaquin Valley was developed based on federal and state water
contracts. Farmers invested billions of dollars in both water supply
infrastructure and on-farm irrigation system improvements based on these
contractual obligations. Greater reliance on groundwater has always been a
drought-year strategy. We should not be surprised that it is being relied on
now to produce food for Californians and other consumers throughout the world.
Drought
From: Dale Yurong, KFSN 30
Growers in the Fresno Irrigation
District are relieved to see irrigation water finally being delivered to their
farms.
In a normal year, farmers would
see water delivered for six months in the Fresno Irrigation District. This
year, they're getting a fraction of that but that still beats the zero
allocation some growers are getting.
From: Staff, KOVR 13
Families in areas hardest hit by
California's drought are getting some much-needed help as part of the state's
$687 million drought relief bill. Yolo County is able to put some of that money
to use by feeding families in need. "Most of us here in town, they work on
the fields, and they depend on the season," said Claudia Covorrubias.
But she says this season, the
drought is taking its toll, and her husband is out of his usual farm work. It's
a familiar story in Yolo County. "We need the water," she said.
"If there's no water, there's no planting. So if there's no planting,
there's no food."
Levees
From: Alex Breitler, Stockton
Record
Ten years ago this morning, a
levee on Jones Tract west of Stockton abruptly crumbled, unleashing a flood of
water and worry. The water went away, eventually. The worry never did.
A decade later, the perceived
fragile nature of Delta levees remains a concern across California, where
millions of people depend on water funneled through the estuary. And yet, since
Jones Tract, those much-maligned levees have held firm. There has been no major
Delta flood since that sunny day when the Jones Tract levee gave way and 12,000
acres of farmland became a lake.
Water Storage
From: William Palazzini,
Sacramento Bee
Re "Are dams the answer?" (Page A1, June 1):
Dams are built for flood control, power generation, water storage and recreation.
Using only the average year water storage available for release really distorts
the cost of dams.
Flood control in wet years saves
millions of feet of water from ending up in the ocean while stopping or
mitigating flooding. Revenue from power generation mitigates the cost of the
dam and water storage, especially water saved during wet year supplies needed
for irrigation and use by thirsty cities. Lastly, it provides recreational use
for millions of people.
From: Bill Jurkovich,
Sacramento Bee
Re "Are dams the answer?"(Page A1, June 1): The
look for a silver bullet to solve California's water problems has led to
paralysis in providing solutions. There is no single answer, but the
combination of efficient use, reuse, storage, distribution and desalination.
The paralysis is exasperated by regional self-interest, gross over allocation
and greed.
From: Bill Gardner, Sacramento
Bee
Re "Are dams the answer?" (Page A1, June 1): It
may take a master negotiator, but it is time to work with the Great Northwest
states to tap into water from the Columbia River basin.
Water canals along Idaho,
Washington, and Oregon can be built and diverted to Northern California's dead
seas and along to the Owens Valley to provide an infusion of new water
resources to meet California's agricultural needs.
