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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Drought To Cut Off Federal Water To Calif. Farms
  • Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:31:27 -0700


And I just happen to be growing produce for local markets in NM. Hmmm.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net
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Drought To Cut Off Federal Water To Calif. Farms
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/20/drought-to-cut-off-federa_n_168759.
html
February 20, 2009 10:59 PM EST | AP


SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Federal water managers said Friday that they plan to
cut off water, at least temporarily, to thousands of California farms as a
result of the deepening drought gripping the state.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials said parched reservoirs and patchy
rainfall this year were forcing them to completely stop surface water
deliveries for at least a three-week period beginning March 1. Authorities
said they haven't had to take such a drastic move for more than 15 years.

The situation could improve slightly if more rain falls over the next few
weeks, and officials will know by mid-March if they can release more
irrigation supplies to growers.

Farmers in the nation's No. 1 agriculture state predicted it would cause
consumers to pay more for their fruits and vegetables, which would have to
be grown using expensive well water.

"Water is our life _ it's our jobs and it's our food," said Ryan Jacobsen,
executive director of the farm bureau in Fresno County. "Without a reliable
water supply, Fresno County's No. 1 employer _ agriculture _ is at great
risk."

The drought would cause an estimated $1.15 billion dollar loss in
agriculture-related wages and eliminate as many as 40,000 jobs in
farm-related industries in the San Joaquin Valley alone, where most of the
nation's produce and nut crops are grown, said Lester Snow, director of the
Department of Water Resources.

Jeff Peracchi, a pomegranate and grape grower in Huron, said he was laying
off employees because without water, there wouldn't be much fruit to pick.

"I can't just say I won't farm this year _ I have to do something. But I'm
having to lay off guys who have been with us for years," Peracchi said. "At
this point, I'm planning to farm to keep the fruit as healthy as I can, but
I'm not sure I'm going to be able to be profitable."

California's agricultural industry typically receives 80 percent of all the
water supplies managed by the federal government _ everything from far-off
mountain streams and suburban reservoirs. The state supplies drinking water
to 23 million residents and 755,000 acres of irrigated farmland.

Farms supplied by flows from the state would still get 15 percent of their
normal deliveries, but the combined state and federal cutbacks would leave
more than 1 million acres of fields and orchards with no aboveground water
supply, Snow said.

The state depends on winter snow in the Sierra Nevada for much of its
summer water supply, but January was one of the driest winter months on
record. This year, both the state and federal reservoirs have reached their
lowest level since 1992.

Water for crops also was restricted by court decisions cutting back
deliveries that flow through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a freshwater
estuary home to the delta smelt, a fish scientists believe is on the brink
of extinction.

Dwindling supplies would have to be routed to cities to ensure residents,
hospitals and fire crews have enough to meet minimum health and safety
needs, said Don Glaser, the federal reclamation bureau's Mid-Pacific Region
director.

The water shortages are so severe most cities will have to start mandatory
ration programs by summertime, and residents will be asked to reduce their
usage by 20 percent, Snow said.

"You've got to think about water as a precious resource," he said. "It may
seem a stretch to conserve 20 percent of your water, but that's nothing in
comparison to the consequences of the drought and job loss in agriculture."





  • [Livingontheland] Drought To Cut Off Federal Water To Calif. Farms, Tradingpost, 02/21/2009

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