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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] California Farmers Go Deep into Water Debt During Drought
  • Date: Mon, 07 Mar 2011 21:06:11 -0700


why I've been using and promoting moisture-conserving growing techniques

California Farmers Go Deep into Water Debt During Drought
Posted Mar 2, 2011 by Sandra Postel
http://www.postcarbon.org/blog-post/267496-california-farmers-go-deep-into-water

Satellite photo of groundwater-irrigated farmlandWe all know the dangers of
not balancing our check books: we could withdraw from our bank accounts more
than we've deposited, and get fined-or worse-for overdrawing.

You'd think we'd manage our groundwater accounts at least as carefully as our
bank accounts, especially given that the food security of this and future
generations depends on them. But we don't. Rarely is groundwater use
monitored, measured or regulated. This is true for most of the world, as well
as for California's Central Valley-the fruit and vegetable bowl of the United
States. Farmers in the 52,000 square-kilometer valley produce 250 different
kinds of crops that together account for 8 percent of the nation's
agricultural value.

But thanks to the National Atmospheric and Space Administration's (NASA)
satellite mission called GRACE (the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment),
we're getting some excellent assessments of what's happening to water
underground-and the picture is sobering. GRACE monitors changes in Earth's
gravity field that result from changes in water storage, and the technology
can give a fairly accurate picture of what's happening to groundwater
supplies.

(Read more about water supply in California in National Geographic magazine.)

Image: Satellite photo of groundwater-irrigated farmland in an arid region of
California courtesy of NASA.

This post is part of a special National Geographic news series and initiative
on global water issues.

Originally published February 28, 2011 at National Geographic.




  • [Livingontheland] California Farmers Go Deep into Water Debt During Drought, Tradingpost, 03/07/2011

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