Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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Valley demonstrators march for water
Tuesday, Apr. 14, 2009
By Robert Rodriguez / The Fresno Bee
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1330691.html

More than 4,000 people braved blowing dust to march Tuesday from Mendota to
Firebaugh, launching a four-day campaign to focus attention on the Valley's
crippling water shortage.

The "March for Water" drew a diverse group of demonstrators, including
farmers, farmworkers, business owners, politicians and actor/comedian Paul
Rodriguez, chairman of the California Latino Water Coalition, one of the
event's organizers.


Demonstrators arrive in Firebaugh from Mendota. Thousands walked in windy,
cold and dusty conditions to draw attention to their plight.

Many of the marchers wore blue t-shirts that read: "No water, no work, no
life."

They walked on dusty roads that ran along Highway 33 on their eight-mile
journey between the two farm towns. A parade of more than 50 farm vehicles
and diesel trucks followed.

"Yes, it's cold and windy, but we have to let people hear us," said Maria
Rodriguez, her faced wrapped in a scarf.

Rodriguez and her husband, Sixto Rodriguez, have been farmworkers for more
than 30 years.

"It has been our life, but now it feels like it is ending because the work
is less and less," said Sixto Rodriguez of Mendota.

Organizers called the event historic and likened it to the the famed
marches led by farm-labor leader Cesar Chavez, who battled the agriculture
industry and government for better working conditions in the fields.

But this new battle is about striking a balance between the water needs of
the environment and agriculture, the San Joaquin Valley's economic engine
and a multibillion-dollar industry.

March organizers say pumping restrictions at the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta have pinched water supplies to farmers in the San Joaquin Valley.
Many growers get their water from the delta, a 700-mile maze of rivers,
tributaries and sloughs that is the hub of the state's complex
water-delivery system.

Declining fish populations in the estuary have led to pumping cutbacks,
leaving growers without their normal supply. And a three-year drought has
made things worse.

This year, growers in west Fresno County have fallowed thousands of acres
and laid off hundreds of workers because of a shortage of water.

Marchers called for the federal government to ease the Endangered Species
Act to allow more water through the delta and to Valley farms. They are
also calling for a more comprehensive water plan and federal assistance to
those in agriculture facing hardships.