California has been the nation’s
leading agricultural and dairy state for the past 50 years. The
state’s 80,500 farms and ranches produce more than 400 different
agricultural products. These products generated a record $44.7
billion in sales value in 2012, accounting for 11.3 percent of
the US total.
Breaking down the state’s agricultural role in the country,
California produces 21 percent of the nation’s milk supply, 23
percent of its cheese and 92 percent of all grapes. The state
also produces half of all domestically-grown fruits, nuts and
vegetables, including some products, such as almonds, walnuts,
artichokes, persimmons and pomegranates, of which 99 percent are
grown in California.
Overall, about 3 percent of employment in the state is directly
or indirectly related to agriculture.
A state program aimed at retiring and repurposing farmland
could get $60 million – more than doubling its current funding
– under Gov. Newsom’s proposed budget. The Multibenefit Land
Repurposing Program was created with $50 million from the 2021
state budget. The program helps pay for farmland to be taken
out of production and repurposed to less water intensive uses.
Farmers in the San Joaquin Valley have pumped groundwater for
crops without limits for generations. But groundwater levels
are plummeting …
[On the southeast side of California’s Central
Valley] farmers are pumping unreliable groundwater to make
up the difference, hoping their already struggling wells don’t
go dry … Others will rip up their trees and leave their
fields fallow. … About 100 miles away, on the northwest
side of the Central Valley, the situation could not be more
different. Even during an unprecedented drought, the almond and
pistachio farmers around the city of Los Banos will get around
75 percent of a normal year’s water … The startling contrast
is the result of an obscure and contentious legal agreement
known as the exchange contract …
The California Department of Food and Agriculture says that
more than 90% of the cotton harvested in California has been
grown in the San Joaquin Valley but continuing dry weather is
posing significant challenges for growers. Consumer demand is
driving the market for cotton, including high-quality Pima
cotton now reaching record levels of more than $3 a pound. But
as California faces another dry year many farmers in Kern
County are impacted not only by an increase in price but also
by a decrease in production.
For the fourth time in 10 years, farmers I know in California
are facing a harsh reality — they won’t see a drop of water
from federal government reserves to supplement the little bit
they’ll get from Mother Nature. … Precision
agriculture — the use of technology like networked sensors and
artificial intelligence — is helping farmers get by without the
water they once had. The efficiencies are real, and the impact
is tangible. I’ve seen up close how precision agriculture is
making a difference for farms facing extreme drought. -Written by Michael Gilbert, CEO of Semios,
helping farmers use data to optimize every acre.
Wildfires signal perhaps the most immediate threat California’s
$43 billion viticulture industry faces from a warming
California. Yet they’re far from the only challenge. Wineries
from the San Joaquin Valley to the Sierra Nevada foothills are
all suffering from intensifying droughts and hot, almost
endlessly dry seasons. Both problems are predicted to get worse
in the coming decades. For grape farmers, that could be
devastating: The rainless skies of the last two years resulted
in highly stressed crops and seriously diminished yields.
State Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D-Bakersfield) and state Sen. Dave
Cortese (D-San Jose) are calling for U. S. Attorney General
Merrick Garland to investigate possible drought profiteering
and water rights abuses in the western states. … A
county supervisor in Arizona joined the California state
senators in calling for the investigation. … In addition
to raising anti-trust questions, Hurtado and Cortese expressed
concern about the potential for hedge funds to divert water
intended for food production to cannabis growing operations.
New Mexico State University’s Forestry Research Center in the
mountain community of Mora is one of only a few such nurseries
in the country and stands at the forefront of a major
undertaking to rebuild more resilient forests as wildfires burn
hotter, faster and more often. … With no shortage of
burn scars around the West, researchers and private groups such
as The Nature Conservancy have been tapping New Mexico State
University’s center for seedlings to learn how best to restore
forests after the flames are extinguished. The center has
provided sprouts for projects in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado,
Utah, Texas and California …
Three years ago, when he sank everything he had into 66 acres
of irrigated pasture in Shasta County, [farmer Josh] Davy
thought he’d drought-proofed his cattle operation. He’d been
banking on the Sacramento Valley’s water supply… But this
spring, for the first time ever, no water is flowing through
his pipes and canals or those of his neighbors: The district
won’t be delivering any water to Davy or any of its roughly 800
other customers.
The Clear Lake hitch is one of 13 species endemic to
California’s largest, oldest and now most toxic lake. Known
as chi to local tribes, the hitch teeter on the edge
of extinction, a fate to which their cousins, two other
formerly endemic lake species — the thicktail chub (last seen
in 1938) and the Clear Lake splittail (last seen in the
1970s) — have already succumbed. Clear Lake hitch are
vanishing because of our unabated appetites for fossil fuels,
sportfishing, irrigation water and wine.
The Interior Department’s internal watchdog on Thursday said it
found no evidence that former secretary David Bernhardt
violated lobbying laws regarding a former client, a California
water district that is the nation’s largest agricultural water
supplier, although he continued to advise them on legislative
matters on occasion after he stopped being their lobbyist.
Illegal pot grows were already a problem in the High Desert,
but during the pandemic, the number increased, and now
officials say with scarce water resources in Southern
California, it’s a drought problem too. The NBC4 I-Team has
been following the efforts to eradicate illegal marijuana
operations in the high desert region of Southern California. On
May 17, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced a
new operation targeting those operations. The problem
exploded during the pandemic with illegal marijuana grow
operations quickly multiplying in High Desert
communities.
The ongoing water feud between two of Kings County’s biggest
farming entities recently spilled into Kern County and up to
Sacramento with allegations on both sides of misuse of water
and other public resources. In a May 12 letter, the Southwest
Kings Groundwater Sustainability Agency complains that the J.G.
Boswell Company has been pumping and storing massive amounts of
groundwater for irrigation in a shallow basin, subjecting it to
extreme evaporation and contributing to the area’s already
significant subsidence problems.
On May 10, the California State Water Resources Control Board
readopted an emergency regulation that stands to force 2,000
water-rights holders to curtail water diversions for another
year. (See related story on Page 10.) The emergency action is
being used to make water available to senior diverters, minimum
instream flows and minimum health and human safety
needs. … As an alternative to a full curtailment action
being applied to a diverter, water-right holders in the upper
watershed (north of Dry Creek in Sonoma County) can instead
voluntarily sign up to participate in the program to receive
some lower percentage of their typical reported water use. -Written by Frost Pauli, a Mendocino County
winegrape and pear grower and is chair of the Mendocino County
Farm Bureau Water Committee.
California lawmakers and the governor are hashing out the final
details for investing billions of state dollars into a drought
relief plan with long-term water investments and some benefits
to farmers.
With 60% of the state now in extreme drought conditions, state
officials are warning water-right holders that they should
expect more curtailments during peak irrigation season in June
and July. … Drought emergency curtailment
regulations were issued last fall by the California State Water
Resources Control Board for certain watersheds in response to
persistent dry conditions and spurred by a drought emergency
declaration by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Curtailment orders
adopted last year are effective for up to one year unless
readopted.
The Interior Department is doling out more than $240 million
for repairs to aging water infrastructure in the drought-ridden
West, one of the first investments with ramifications for
agriculture in the $1.5 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
enacted last year.
The rice farmer John Brennan … [is] collaborating with the
scientist Jacob Katz to turn a piece of the Sacramento Valley,
specifically in the Yolo Bypass, into a floodplain that can be
home to baby Chinook salmon during the winter months, as they
make their way down the river system to the Pacific. Their
experiment, aptly named the Nigiri Project (in reference to the
beds of seasoned sushi rice draped in little blankets of raw
fish), involves flooding Brennan’s rice fields once the grain
has been harvested so that the depleted stalks can decompose in
the water, thereby making those nutrients available to bugs and
plankton, which then serve as food for schools of growing
salmon.
A California federal judge has declined to lift an injunction
on two Northern California county ordinances that require
strict permits for the transport of water, saying that while
the local laws were enacted to quash illegal cannabis farms,
they’ve caused harm to a group of Hmong farmers. In a decision
handed down Friday, Chief U. S. District Judge Kimberly J.
Mueller found that although Siskiyou County had modified the
ordinances, they were still likely to cut off water to a
community of Hmong farmers within the county’s borders.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s revised budget proposal would set aside $75
million to aid small agricultural businesses as the drought
deepens. The one-time assistance would provide grants ranging
from $30,000 to $50,000, depending on the amount of lost
revenue. The program would prioritize businesses in the hardest
hit regions, such as the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys….
Newsom’s budget plan would allocate $100 million for repairing
conveyance canals, which was part of a 2021 budget deal. But it
would not add anything further.
A federal judge struck down a second attempt by a Northern
California county to dismiss a case against them for water
sanctions that would leave the local Asian community without
water. … In the original complaint, plaintiff Der
Lee compared living in Shasta Vista to his days hiding out in
the Laos jungles — just now without water. Others explained
that they only bathe once a week, are dehydrated and have had
their food sources — crops and livestock — die from the lack of
water access. As a result, many resorted to filling jugs with
water in streams and local parks.
There is no end in sight for California’s drought. … I
spoke to [professor of civil and environmental engineering at
UC Davis Jay Lund] via email this month and last. A
lightly edited transcript follows. Francis Wilkinson: When
we spoke last summer, you were optimistic about California’s
capacity to manage drought and still prosper. Since then, the
drought has not gotten better … Are you more worried now or
are you still confident that California has enough water for
its economy and its people? Jay Lund: Most of California’s
economy and people will be fine, despite being affected by this
drought.
Don Bransford has been growing rice in the fertile Sacramento
Valley for 42 years. Not this summer. California’s
worsening drought has cut so deeply into water supplies on the
west side of the Valley that Bransford and thousands of other
farmers aren’t planting a single acre of rice. … It’s
spring in the Sacramento Valley, normally the season for
planting rice. It’s the region’s most important crop, a $900
million-a-year business that employs thousands of workers and
puts Valley agriculture on a global stage.
[A crowd has gathered] to stock the pond with over 1,000 young
C’waam and Koptu—Lost River and shortnose suckers, two
endangered species that inhabit Upper Klamath Lake and that are
at the heart of the area’s water conflicts. … The pond
is part of an innovative restoration project at Lakeside Farms,
which is just north of Klamath Falls. … Altogether, it’s a
hopeful demonstration of cooperation in a region that has seen
bitter fights between tribes, farmers, and wildlife advocates
over who gets water.
The Imperial Irrigation District is preparing a water
apportionment plan for Imperial Valley growers to rein in a
projected water overrun after the federal government declared a
water shortage, reducing the amount of water that Arizona,
Nevada and Mexico can claim from the Colorado River. The IID
holds the largest and most secure federal entitlement on the
Colorado River, but current Bureau of Reclamation projections
show the district exceeding its allocation by more than 92,000
acre-feet of water this year…. IID’s Ag Water Advisory
Committee was scheduled to review the EDP proposal on Thursday,
May 12.
Thousands of water rights holders in the Russian River
watershed could soon lose access to their water after state
regulators approved emergency drought rules Tuesday. The State
Water Resources Control Board voted unanimously to reauthorize
the Division of Water Rights to issue “curtailment orders” for
up to 2,000 rights holders in order to preserve water in Lake
Sonoma and Lake Mendocino and to protect drinking water
supplies and fish populations.
More organic farming. Less driving. No more natural gas in new
buildings. Electric off-road vehicles. For the first time
in five years, California regulators have released an
ambitious plan for tackling climate change.
… Among the methods: encouraging Californians to eat
plant- or cell-based products instead of meat. Doubling
the amount of acres of cropland that are certified organic.
… Restoring an immense amount of acreage in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta — 130,000 acres under one
scenario. For context, a state-funded project in the works that
will convert 1,200 acres will have taken 20 years and $63
million when it’s complete.
This time of year, the Sacramento Valley should be buzzing with
tractors working the soil and planes dropping rice seed onto
flooded fields as farmers ramp up planting. … There’s a lack
of activity because more rice fields will go unplanted this
season due to the drought and reduced water deliveries to
farms. In its prospective plantings report released at the end
of March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that
California rice acreage will drop to 348,000 this year, the
lowest since 1983-84. That’s compared to 407,000 acres last
year and 517,000 acres in 2020.
Two species of endangered sucker fish could face extinction
this year because the federal government let farmers take
irrigation water from Upper Klamath Lake instead of leaving
enough water in the lake for the fish born this year to
survive, the Klamath Tribes claim. … Last year, the fight
over the region’s water risked a standoff between extremist
farmers who threatened to take control of the irrigation system
the government had shut off in an effort to prevent the
extinction of two species of endangered sucker fish sacred to
the Klamath Tribes: the c’waam, or Lost River sucker and koptu,
or shortnose sucker.
The implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act (SGMA) over the next two decades may require taking at
least 500,000 acres of cropland in the San Joaquin Valley out
of irrigated production (about 10%). To soften the blow on jobs
and economic activity, it will be important to identify
alternative land uses that generate income. Solar development
is one of the most promising options.
Southern California desert water districts with aging or
failing infrastructure won big federal
funding Monday, with more than $100 million allocated for
major dam and irrigation canal upgrades that will
benefit the Coachella Valley and Imperial County. The
projects are part of $240 million awarded from Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law funds by the U.S. Department of the
Interior on Monday. Among the biggest beneficiaries is the
Coachella Valley Water District, which will get $60
million for lateral replacement irrigation pipelines and
more for work on the Coachella Canal.
A Democrat lawmaker from the central San Joaquin Valley wants
to put cash in the hands of eligible farmworkers to help them
deal with the devastation of California’s drought. Proposed by
State Sen. Melissa Hurtado, a Democrat from Sanger, Senate Bill
1066 would allocate $20 million to create the California
Farmworkers Drought Resilience Pilot Project, a state-funded
project that would provide unconditional monthly cash payments
of $1,000 for three years to eligible farmworkers, with the
goal of lifting them out of poverty.
The Yolo Bypass is one of two large flood bypasses in
California’s Central Valley that are examples of multi-benefit
floodplain projects (Figure 1; Serra-Llobet et al.,
2022). Originally constructed in the early 20th century
for flood control, up to 75% of the Sacramento River’s flood
flow can be diverted through a system of weirs into the Yolo
Bypass and away from nearby communities (Figure 2; Salcido,
2012; Sommer et al., 2001). During the dry season, floodplain
soils in the bypass support farming of seasonal crops (mostly
rice). Today, the bypass is also widely recognized for its
ecological benefits.
California dairy farms will soon be able to feed their cows
seaweed to fight climate change after the state department of
food and agriculture approved the use of a seaweed feed shown
to reduce methane emissions from cow burps, the first in the
U.S. to do so. On Friday, Blue Ocean Barns, which produces the
red seaweed at a farm on the Big Island of Hawaii, announced
that the supplement had been approved for use on both
conventional and dairy farms. Called Brominata, the red seaweed
variety has been shown to cut methane emissions in dairy cows
by 52% over 50 days but so far has only been used in trials.
Rivers in California’s Central Valley like to go their own way:
they expand, contract, meander and regenerate soil in the
process. The historic movement of rivers is what made Central
Valley soil so fertile. Naturally flowing rivers recharge and
save water for people and nature, providing habitat for many
species including four distinct runs of chinook salmon.
Before the early 20th century, the Sacramento River had one of
the biggest salmon runs in North America …
As the deadline for local agencies to implement plans to reduce
groundwater use approaches, a new study finds California’s
landmark legislation may have less of an impact on the local
agriculture economy than originally predicted. A study
authored by Professor Michael McCullough on the effect of the
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in the Tule Sub
Basin in the Central Valley … says by 2040, the deadline for
local agencies to reach groundwater sustainability, the 2014
law will likely result in the loss of some crops, but probably
not the more valuable ones, such as fruit and nuts…
The Marin Water Board of Directors rescinded the county’s water
shortage emergency declaration and updated its water use rules
this week, adopting new requirements for outdoor irrigation and
swimming pools. …Now that the water emergency has been
canceled, residents are permitted to wash their cars at home,
irrigate golf courses in areas outside of the green or tees,
fill swimming pools but cover them when not in use, and install
new landscaping and irrigation systems. Outdoor irrigation
using overhead spray systems is permitted up to two days per
week; drip irrigation is permitted up to three days per week.
In the midst of a years-long drought, California is
implementing the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act,
creating even more concerns for the state’s dairy farmers.
… The biggest impact for dairies may be not so much on
the dairy facility but on the feed side. Without adequate water
or certainty of water, the question is where the feed will come
from. The implementation of SGMA is going to impact local
forages, hay, silages and wheat …
The ongoing drought conditions only continues to make matters
worse for Klamath irrigators and farmers. The Klamath
Irrigation District says the canals it operates and maintains,
haven’t seen water in over 18 months. Executive Director Gene
Souza, says that on March 1st it opened the valve for the A
Canal, a primary diversion point for Upper Klamath Lake. That
allowed water to go into the system very slowly.
Chances are, you’ll eat something grown in California today.
Its farms churn out a third of US-grown vegetables and
two-thirds of its fruits and nuts, and more milk than any other
state. But as I’ve documented in many articles and in my 2020
book Perilous Bounty—released in paperback today, May 2—its
water resources are dwindling, parched by climate change and a
relentless expansion of thirsty nut groves. ..Where will we get
our fruits and vegetables as California’s farms inevitably
adapt to a hotter, drier new normal? -Written by reporter Tom Philpott.
As the climate warms and the threat of water scarcity grows, a
Native-governed nonprofit in Arizona is working to bring back
Indigenous crops that are adapted to hot, dry conditions. The
Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture trains Indigenous
growers in traditional farming methods. And it shares seeds for
a range of crops, including drought-tolerant varieties of
squash, beans, and corn.
California walnut grower Tim McCord is at the dry end of the
spigot, facing a zero-water allocation from the Central Valley
Project, which is supposed to deliver to his local San Benito
County Water District. … The farmer is not just concerned
about his orchard; he’s also frustrated that he owes
substantial water-related taxes to the district, and, if water
is eventually delivered, he’ll be charged $309.75 per acre-foot
— more than in non-drought years. McCord is not alone.
During drought, it’s common for farmers across the West to pay
higher water-related rates, assessments, fees and taxes than
during wet years.
Advocates are sounding the alarm for what they think could be
the collapse of the San Joaquin Valley’s agriculture workforce.
As drought continues to hammer the state and groundwater
pumping restrictions take effect, farmland will need to be
retired en masse. While there have been many
conversations, including legislation, on how to support farmers
during intermittent droughts, advocates say there has been
little to no planning for what will happen to the nearly
167,000 farmworkers in the San Joaquin Valley when swaths of
farmland are permanently fallowed.
Water officials believe the past three years could end up as
the driest in California’s history. State reservoir levels are
alarmingly low, and measurements of the Sierra Nevada snowpack
are “grim,” the state’s natural resources secretary tells
Lester Holt. The drought is impacting the water supply for
residents and farms, which supply critical crops for the
nation.
Last summer, Siskiyou County’s recently appointed sheriff,
Jeremiah LaRue, released a video on YouTube to explain two
controversial new county groundwater laws. The drought was
severe that year, he said, and the “wasteful extraction” of
water for illegal cannabis cultivation was making it worse.
… The environmentalist rhetoric and talk of water policy
signaled a shift in how LaRue’s department policed the illicit
cannabis industry.
Two bills authored by Democratic State Senator Melissa Hurtado,
who represents the 14th district that includes Porterville,
advanced in the Senate on Wednesday. SB 1219, Hurtado’s State
Water Resiliency and Modernization Act passed the Senate
Environmental Quality Committee. Hurtado’s bill to
prevent foreign purchases of agricultural property, SB 1064,
the Food and Farm Security Act also passed the Senate
Agricultural Committee 4-0.
Justin Seidenfeld’s vineyard ran out of water last year. The
area of Petaluma where his Parliament Hills Vineyard is located
received just 4.5 inches of rain throughout 2021, not nearly
enough sustenance for his vines of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
… This year, however, Seidenfeld’s grapevines are
healthy and happy, with plenty of water to drink. It’s not
because of rainfall, but rather because of a newly constructed
pipeline bringing recycled water from Petaluma’s
water treatment plant to vineyards along Lakeville Highway.
A coalition of water stakeholder organizations from across
California joined together to send a letter addressed to
Gov. Gavin Newsom and six key legislators requesting
action to address water issues. The nine page document dated
April 19, 2022 was signed by 18 organizations and entities
including the San Joaquin Valley Water Blueprint and 10
Southern California, four Bay Area and three trade groups. The
letter laid out the need to include a $6.5 billion
appropriation in the 2022-2023 General Fund budget to
strengthen statewide drought and flood resilience. -Written by Don Wright, a contributor to The San
Joaquin Valley Sun.
During Tuesday’s Butte County Board of Supervisors Meeting, the
board heard from Luhdorff and Scalmanaini Consulting Engineers,
who they hired in December 2021 to do a drought impact analyst
study. The results found that for agriculture: Areas that
utilize surface water in normal years pump more in drought
years, as is expected. Total cost of water compared to total
cost of production remains low but may increase in the
future…
As worsening drought conditions in California and the West take
a heavy economic toll on agriculture, state legislators are
considering a plan to pay farmworkers $1,000 a month to help
them cover the cost of necessities. The bill is meant to assist
farmworkers who have fewer crops to tend as climate change
limits the window for each growing season and cuts the Golden
State’s water supply.
California’s agricultural sector is the nation’s largest,
generating more than $50 billion in annual revenue and
employing more than 420,000 people. But water supply has always
been an issue in the drought-prone state, and that’s growing
more pressing with the warming, increasingly volatile climate.
… Escriva-Bou presented new findings from
joint research with a team from UC Merced about how the ongoing
drought is affecting the state’s farming regions, which
suffered $1.1 billion in direct economic costs in 2021.
The Klamath Basin provides a cautionary tale for Oregon about
the need to plan more intentionally and sustainably with its
shrinking water supply. Though the state and its watersheds
aren’t newcomers to drought, research suggests that climate
change is magnifying the impacts of the region’s natural wet
and dry cycles…. Oregon’s next governor will inherit a
state whose ecosystems, economy and communities are enduring
their driest period in 1,200 years.
A sale of agricultural water within the Panoche Water District
on the upper west side of the San Joaquin Valley hit the
eye-popping price of $2,000 per acre foot recently. The buyer
bought 668 acre feet in a deal that was brokered by Nat DiBuduo
with Alliance Ag Services. … Last year, the same sellers,
also unnamed, sold water for $1,648 and $1,800 per acre foot,
indicating how a third year of drought is pushing up the price
of water, according to the broker.
The Salton Sea, located in Southern California, is a saline
terminal lake that has had many identities over the past
century or so. Since its reincarnation in 1905 due to lower
Colorado River flooding that partially refilled the Salton
Sink, it has been California’s largest lake by surface area,
covering approximately 350 square miles…. Yet with nearly 90%
of its inflow comprised of agricultural drainage waters from
the approximately 500,000 acres of irrigated farmland in the
Imperial Irrigation District (IID), and exposure to an
extremely arid climate that results in excessive evaporation
… the Sea’s natural attractions have faded as the lake has
become more polluted and nearly twice as saline as the
ocean….
A group of Butte County farmers, who rely solely on groundwater
to farm mostly tree crops north of Chico, are one step closer
to finalizing formation of a new water district. They say the
new district will help future generations comply with a state
regulation to bring groundwater supplies into balance in 20
years. … SGMA, signed into law in 2014, establishes a
new structure for managing groundwater in California and
requires groundwater sustainability agencies to manage
groundwater locally and develop and implement plans to achieve
long-term sustainability.
A move to dry up water speculation once and for all in Colorado
ended at the legislature despite intense supply pressures from
drought and water developers, as lawmakers said they’re loath
to hurt farmers’ ability to sell their most valuable
asset. The Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources
Committee tabled the anti-speculation bill after first
accepting an amendment to turn it into a between-sessions study
of the problem. Technically, the measure could be revived, but
the bill’s sponsors say the issue is over for this year.
A Democrat lawmaker from the central San Joaquin Valley wants
to put cash in the hands of eligible farmworkers to help them
deal with the devastation of California’s drought.
Proposed by State Sen. Melissa Hurtado, a Democrat from
Sanger, Senate Bill 1066 would allocate $20 million
to create the California Farmworkers Drought Resilience Pilot
Project, a state-funded project that would provide
unconditional monthly cash payments of $1,000 for three years
to eligible farmworkers, with the goal of lifting them out of
poverty.
Rather than planning for droughts and ensuring that minimum
water quality objectives are achieved in critically dry years,
the proposed voluntary agreement appears to be a “plan to fail”
to protect the Delta in future droughts. Droughts are a
fact of life in California, even as climate change is making
them worse. The Governor’s Water Resilience Portfolio
recognizes the need to improve drought preparedness, requiring
that the State to be able to protect fish and wildlife during a
six year drought …
The Long Beach Water Commission may upgrade the city’s water
shortage level next week, which would bring with it new
restrictions on when residents can water
landscaping. Updating the city’s water shortage stage
comes as California heads toward its third straight year of
drought. The proposal to go to Stage 2, which would limit
landscape irrigation to two days per week year-round, would
take the city back to water conservation rules not seen since
June 2016.
Water resources are declining in many regions of the world. Due
to climate change, increased air temperatures, and reduced
precipitation, we will face a decline in water resources in the
future. … Lampinen et al investigated soil and
plant data and evapotranspiration for irrigation management of
walnut trees in California, USA. Fernandes-Silva, by
examining the effect of different irrigation regimes (dryland
irrigation with 30% and 100% water requirement) on yield and
WUE of olive, reported that crop evapotranspiration (ETc) is
the most influential parameter in changes in fruit yield.
A new bill aimed at bringing relief to farmworkers affected by
the drought is now one step closer to becoming law. The
bill, introduced by Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D–Sanger), aims
to provide financial assistance to farmworkers struggling to
afford basic necessities. Wednesday it passed in a state senate
committee, four to one. Senate Bill 1066 aims to create a
program called the California Farmworkers Drought Resilience
Pilot Project. The project is a state-funded supplemental pay
program that would give eligible farmworkers $1,000 for three
years.
Heading into another brutally dry summer, struggling cannabis
growers in California could be excluded from the state’s latest
assistance plan to save water. A proposal by Gov. Gavin Newsom
would pay farmers to not plant crops, known as fallowing, this
year as drought conditions worsen. The plan with some of
the state’s largest water providers earmarks $268 million in
upfront payments for voluntarily leaving fields uncultivated,
or fallowing.
Northern California farmers use pumped river water during
freezing spring nights to coat the growing grapes with a
protective layer of ice, and without this protection there
could be significant losses to crops. That water, however,
comes from the homes of the hook-mouthed coho salmon and
the threatened steelhead trout. Once plentiful, the coho salmon
is now a protected species under threat (via NOAA Fisheries).
Salmon-Safe seeks to protect important species in California
and beyond, while still supporting the many brewery and winery
industries that need water to thrive.
To see the trickle-down effect of the drought, you don’t have
to look much further than farms. Agriculture accounts for about
80% of the water used in California. … Selling fruit got
tougher during the COVID-19 pandemic, while maintaining the
farm got more expensive. Despite painstaking rationing and
letting go of several productive acres, water remains Bernard’s
most painful monthly expense. His February bill was as
expensive as last June’s — normally one of the hottest and
driest times.
The Sacramento River Settlement Contractors are currently
implementing another project on the Sacramento River just
downstream from Keswick Reservoir that will contribute to the
habitat targets established by the recently signed Voluntary
Agreements Memorandum of Understanding. The 2022 Keswick Gravel
Injection Project will provide much needed spawning habitat in
the upper Sacramento River for endangered winter-run Chinook
salmon.
With historic droughts strangling the world, from California to
Africa, Senator Paul Simon’s book Tapped Out: Water: The Coming
Crisis and What We Can Do About it, is now available in
paperback and as an eBook published by Inprint Books. …
In Brazil, the current drought is one of the worst ever
recorded. … In Madagascar, drought has left hundreds of
thousands of people malnourished, pushing the
country to the edge of famine. In the last two
decades alone, the United Nations estimates drought has
affected 1.5 billion people and led to economic
losses of at least $124 billion.
Brewers from Colorado to Wyoming to California are watching
nervously as [drought] grows more acute. …
[Mitch] Steele, who spent a decade as brewmaster at Stone
Brewing outside San Diego, says most of Southern California’s
water blends Colorado River water with Sierra Nevada mountain
snowpack transferred via the California Aqueduct. Extreme
drought conditions in California results in suppliers upping
the blend percentage from the Colorado River, which picks up a
large quantity of minerals as it travels the long distance.
A new bill aimed at bringing relief to farmworkers affected by
the drought is now one step closer to becoming law. The bill,
introduced by Senator Melissa Hurtado, aims to provide
financial assistance to farmworkers struggling to afford basic
necessities. Wednesday it passed in a state senate committee,
four to one. Senate Bill 1066 (see the full text
below) was introduced by Hurtado and aims to create a program
called the California Farmworkers Drought Resilience Pilot
Project.
As the Ukraine war kindles fears of rising food prices, the
recognition of a secure domestic food supply – driven in large
part by irrigated agriculture in the Western U.S. – is
something we need to talk about. … Government water
policy decisions made in California and Oregon are currently
withholding once-reliable water from farmers in order to meet
perceived environmental priorities. In simple terms, our
own government is actually voluntarily directing measures
that restrict water to farmers. Sadly, this diminishes our
food production capacity, and with it, our national
security. -Written by Paul Orme and Dan Keppen, both of
the Family Farm Alliance.
Scattered across California’s San Joaquin Valley are colonias,
the unincorporated communities home to some of the Valley’s
poorest residents in one of the richest agricultural areas in
the world. … Water access is a critical question in
California. Former Governor Jerry Brown declared an official
drought in 2014. The state today is even drier, and the
declaration is still in force. Teviston, a tiny community
established by African Americans in the 1940s, went completely
without water for a month last summer when its only well
stopped working.
A Native American tribe in Oregon said Tuesday it is assessing
its legal options after learning the U.S. government plans to
release water from a federally operated reservoir to downstream
farmers along the Oregon-California border amid a historic
drought. Even limited irrigation for the farmers who use
Klamath River water on about 300 square miles of crops puts two
critically endangered fish species in peril of extinction
because the water withdrawals come at the height of spawning
season, The Klamath Tribes said.
Throughout western Fresno County, fertile land has been taken
out of production because the irrigation supply isn’t stable
enough to bring a crop to harvest. Many of Joe Del Bosque’s dry
fields in Firebaugh will stay that way this season.
… Without adequate surface water delivered from
reservoirs, some growers must continue to pump groundwater from
their wells. But the California Groundwater Live website
shows 64% of monitored wells are below normal.
Between vast almond orchards and dairy pastures in the heart of
California’s farm country sits a property being redesigned to
look like it did 150 years ago, before levees restricted the
flow of rivers that weave across the landscape. The 2,100 acres
(1,100 hectares) at the confluence of the Tuolumne and San
Joaquin rivers in the state’s Central Valley are being reverted
to a floodplain.
Not only does the proposed Bay-Delta voluntary agreement wholly
fail to provide the water that the environment needs, but even
the woefully inadequate flows and the habitat restoration
proposed in the VA would largely come from other water users
and taxpayers, rather than the water districts that signed the
MOU. … [P]art of the funding supposedly coming from
water districts simply redirects existing fees they are
required to pay under the 1992 Central Valley Project
Improvement Act ($10M/year).
Entering a third year of drought, the once-vast Tule Lake, a
vestige of the area’s volcanic past and today a federally
protected wetland, is shriveling up. Its floor is mostly
cracked mud and tumbleweed. By summer, the lake is expected to
run completely dry, a historic first for the region’s signature
landmark and the latest chapter in a broader, escalating water
war.
With high biodiversity and rich farmland, San Diego County is
exploring ways to put the region’s land to use to cut carbon
emissions. In an online public workshop Thursday, county
officials explained ways to expand the use of wetlands,
marshes, forests and agricultural lands to capture and store
carbon through the county’s Regional Decarbonization
Framework.
In a dramatic shift from California’s history of allowing
landowners to freely pump and consume water from their own
wells, Sonoma County’s rural residents and many others will
soon begin paying for the water drawn from beneath their
feet…. The residential fees are based on an assumption
that rural residents typically pump a half-acre foot of well
water a year. Most homes do not have water meters and none will
be installed under the fee program. Large groundwater water
users — including ranches, cities, water districts and
businesses — would pay fees based on the volume of water drawn
from their wells.
As California sinks deeper into drought conditions, Dahle does
not favor imposing mandatory water use reductions … He raised
particular concerns, as a farmer, that harsh restrictions would
further devastate California agriculture by forcing farms to
fallow hundreds of thousands of acres of land. Dahle said the
state should put a greater emphasis on increasing water storage
by building the proposed Sites Reservoir. He also has a novel
idea to improve water supply by thinning forests, a policy that
would offer other benefits such as providing timber and
reducing wildfire risks.
Under the blistering sun of Southern California’s Imperial
Valley, it’s not surprising that subsurface drip irrigation is
more effective and efficient than furrow (or flood) irrigation,
a practice in which up to 50% of water is lost to evaporation.
But a recent study also concludes that drip irrigation can
dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from soil –
which contribute to climate change and unhealthy air quality in
the region – without sacrificing yields of forage crops alfalfa
and sudangrass.
Amid the sweeping backdrop of the Topatopa Mountains and a
field of colorful organic vegetables, members of the Ventura
County farming community joined advocates and water experts to
urge the passage of Measures A and B. The twin ballot measures
would close a loophole in Ventura County allowing oil and gas
companies to drill without environmental review using
antiquated permits. In most cases, these permits were granted
between 1930 and 1970. Cynthia King’s farm, where the
press conference took place, is surrounded by a CUP that was
approved in 1928.
Valley groundwater agencies are mired in confusion and concern
over Gov. Newsom’s March 28 executive drought order, which
added new steps for permitting agricultural wells, according to
agencies’ staff. As groundwater agency managers scramble
to hash out exactly how to comply with the order, well permits
in some areas are stuck in limbo leaving well drillers and
small farmers without answers — or water.
This tour ventured through California’s Central Valley, known as the nation’s breadbasket thanks to an imported supply of surface water and local groundwater. Covering about 20,000 square miles through the heart of the state, the valley provides 25 percent of the nation’s food, including 40 percent of all fruits, nuts and vegetables consumed throughout the country.
The lower Colorado River has virtually every drop allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states, 30 tribal nations and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour.
Hyatt Place Las Vegas At Silverton Village
8380 Dean Martin Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89139
This tour guided participants on a virtual exploration of the Sacramento River and its tributaries and learn about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
This tour guided participants on a virtual journey deep into California’s most crucial water and ecological resource – the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The 720,000-acre network of islands and canals support the state’s two major water systems – the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project. The Delta and the connecting San Francisco Bay form the largest freshwater tidal estuary of its kind on the West coast.
This event explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour.
This tour explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs is the focus of this tour.
Silverton Hotel
3333 Blue Diamond Road
Las Vegas, NV 89139
This 2-day, 1-night tour offered participants the opportunity to
learn about water issues affecting California’s scenic Central
Coast and efforts to solve some of the challenges of a region
struggling to be sustainable with limited local supplies that
have potential applications statewide.
We explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop
of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad
sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and
climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in
the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin
states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this
water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial
needs was the focus of this tour.
Hampton Inn Tropicana
4975 Dean Martin Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89118
This three-day, two-night tour explored the lower Colorado River
where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand
is growing from myriad sources — increasing population,
declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in
the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin
states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this
water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial
needs is the focus of this tour.
Best Western McCarran Inn
4970 Paradise Road
Las Vegas, NV 89119
This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries
through a scenic landscape as participants learned about the
issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of
California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State
Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project. Tour
participants got an on-site update of repair efforts on the
Oroville Dam spillway.
Groundwater replenishment happens
through direct recharge and in-lieu recharge. Water used for
direct recharge most often comes from flood flows, water
conservation, recycled water, desalination and water
transfers.
Water is expensive – and securing enough money to ensure
reliability and efficiency of the state’s water systems and
ecosystems is a constant challenge.
In 2014, California voters approved Proposition 1, authorizing a
$7.5 billion bond to fund water projects throughout the state.
This included investments in water storage, watershed protection
and restoration, groundwater sustainability and drinking water
protection.
California agriculture is going to have to learn to live with the
impacts of climate change and work toward reducing its
contributions of greenhouse gas emissions, a Yolo County walnut
grower said at the Jan. 26 California Climate Change Symposium in
Sacramento.
“I don’t believe we are going to be able to adapt our way out of
climate change,” said Russ Lester, co-owner of Dixon Ridge Farms
in Winters. “We need to mitigate for it. It won’t solve the
problem but it can slow it down.”
From the Greek “xeros” and Middle Dutch “scap,”
xeriscape was coined
in 1978 and literally translates to “dry scene.”
Xeriscaping, by extension, is making an environment which can
tolerate dryness. This involves installing drought-resistant and
slow-growing plants to reduce water use.
Irrigation is the artificial supply
of water to grow crops or plants. Obtained from either surface or groundwater, it optimizes
agricultural production when the amount of rain and where it
falls is insufficient. Different irrigation
systems are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but in
practical use are often combined. Much of the agriculture in
California and the West relies on irrigation.
Excess salinity poses a growing
threat to food production, drinking water quality and public
health. Salts increase the cost of urban drinking water and
wastewater treatment, which are paid for by residents and
businesses. Increasing salinity is likely the largest long-term
chronic water quality impairment to surface and groundwater in California’s Central
Valley.
California’s severe drought has put its water rights system under
scrutiny, raising the question whether a complete overhaul is
necessary to better allocate water use.
(Read the excerpt below from the July/August 2015 issue along
with the editor’s note. Click here
to subscribe to Western Water and get full access.)
Introduction
California’s severe drought has put its water rights system under
scrutiny, raising the question whether a complete overhaul is
necessary to better allocate water use.
This issue looks at remote sensing applications and how satellite
information enables analysts to get a better understanding of
snowpack, how much water a plant actually uses, groundwater
levels, levee stability and more.
This 3-day, 2-night tour, which we do every spring,
travels the length of the San Joaquin Valley, giving participants
a clear understanding of the State Water Project and Central
Valley Project.
Located just north of Fresno, the
Friant Dam helps deliver water as it runs towards the Merced River, though its
environmental impacts have caused controversy.
This printed issue of Western Water examines
agricultural water use – its successes, the planned state
regulation to quantify its efficiency and the potential for
greater savings.
This Western Water looks at proposed new measures to deal with
the century-old problem of salinity with a special focus on San
Joaquin Valley farms and cities.
The Reclamation Act of 1902, which could arguably be described as
a progression of the credo, Manifest Destiny, transformed the
West. This issue of Western Water provides a glimpse of the past
100 years of the Reclamation Act, from the early visionaries who
sought to turn the arid West into productive farmland, to the
modern day task of providing a limited amount of water to homes,
farms and the environment. Included are discussions of various
Bureau projects and what the next century may bring in terms of
challenges and success.
30-minute DVD that traces the history of the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and its role in the development of the West. Includes
extensive historic footage of farming and the construction of
dams and other water projects, and discusses historic and modern
day issues.
A new look for our most popular product! And it’s the perfect
gift for the water wonk in your life.
Our 24×36 inch California Water Map is widely known for being the
definitive poster that shows the integral role water plays in the
state. On this updated version, it is easier to see California’s
natural waterways and man-made reservoirs and aqueducts
– including federally, state and locally funded
projects – the wild and scenic rivers system, and
natural lakes. The map features beautiful photos of
California’s natural environment, rivers, water projects,
wildlife, and urban and agricultural uses and the
text focuses on key issues: water supply, water use, water
projects, the Delta, wild and scenic rivers and the Colorado
River.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, features
a map of the San Joaquin River. The map text focuses on the San
Joaquin River Restoration Program, which aims to restore flows
and populations of Chinook salmon to the river below Friant Dam
to its confluence with the Merced River. The text discusses the
history of the program, its goals and ongoing challenges with
implementation.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Klamath River Watershed. The
map text explains the many issues facing this vast,
15,000-square-mile watershed, including fish restoration;
agricultural water use; and wetlands. Also included are
descriptions of the separate, but linked, Klamath Basin
Restoration Agreement and the Klamath Hydroelectric Agreement,
and the next steps associated with those agreements. Development
of the map was funded by a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Truckee River Basin, including
the Newlands Project, Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe. Map text
explains the issues surrounding the use of the Truckee-Carson
rivers, Lake Tahoe water quality improvement efforts, fishery
restoration and the effort to reach compromise solutions to many
of these issues.
This 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, illustrates the
water resources available for Nevada cities, agriculture and the
environment. It features natural and manmade water resources
throughout the state, including the Truckee and Carson rivers,
Lake Tahoe, Pyramid Lake and the course of the Colorado River
that forms the state’s eastern boundary.
Water as a renewable resource is depicted in this 18×24 inch
poster. Water is renewed again and again by the natural
hydrologic cycle where water evaporates, transpires from plants,
rises to form clouds, and returns to the earth as precipitation.
Excellent for elementary school classroom use.
With irrigation projects that import water, farmers have
transformed millions of acres of land into highly productive
fields and orchards. But the dry climate that provides an almost
year-round farming season can hasten salt build up in soils. The
build-up of salts in poorly drained soils can decrease crop
productivity, and there are links between drainage water from
irrigated fields and harmful impacts on fish and wildlife.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to California Water provides an
excellent overview of the history of water development and use in
California. It includes sections on flood management; the state,
federal and Colorado River delivery systems; Delta issues; water
rights; environmental issues; water quality; and options for
stretching the water supply such as water marketing and
conjunctive use. New in this 10th edition of the guide is a
section on the human need for water.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Central Valley Project
explores the history and development of the federal Central
Valley Project (CVP), California’s largest surface water delivery
system. In addition to the project’s history, the guide describes
the various CVP facilities, CVP operations, the benefits the CVP
brought to the state and the CVP Improvement Act (CVPIA).
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Groundwater is an in-depth,
easy-to-understand publication that provides background and
perspective on groundwater. The guide explains what groundwater
is – not an underground network of rivers and lakes! – and the
history of its use in California.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to
Water Rights Law, recognized as the most thorough explanation of
California water rights law available to non-lawyers, traces the
authority for water flowing in a stream or reservoir, from a
faucet or into an irrigation ditch through the complex web of
California water rights.
The 20-page Layperson’s Guide to Water Marketing provides
background information on water rights, types of transfers and
critical policy issues surrounding this topic. First published in
1996, the 2005 version offers expanded information on
groundwater banking and conjunctive use, Colorado River
transfers and the role of private companies in California’s
developing water market.
Order in bulk (25 or more copies of the same guide) for a reduced
fee. Contact the Foundation, 916-444-6240, for details.
There are two constants regarding agricultural water use –
growers will continue to come up with ever more efficient and
innovative ways to use water and they will always be pressed to
do more.
It’s safe to say the matter will not be settled anytime soon,
given all the complexities that are a part of the water use
picture today. While officials and stakeholders grapple to find a
lasting solution to California’s water problems that balances
environmental and economic needs, those who grow food and fiber
for a living do so amid a host of challenges.
Land retirement is a practice that takes agricultural lands out
of production due to poor drainage and soils containing high
levels of salt and selenium (a mineral found in soil).
Typically, landowners are paid to retire land. The purchaser,
often a local water district, then places a deed restriction on
the land to prevent growing crops with irrigation water (a source
of salt). Growers in some cases may continue to farm using rain
water, a method known as dry farming.
Evaporation ponds contain agricultural drainage water and are
used when agricultural growers do not have access to rivers for
drainage disposal.
Drainage water is the only source of water in many of these
ponds, resulting in extremely high concentrations of salts.
Concentrations of other trace elements such as selenium are also
elevated in evaporation basins, with a wide degree of variability
among basins.
Such ponds resemble wetland areas that birds use for nesting and
feeding grounds and may pose risks to waterfowl and shorebirds.
The Coachella Valley in Southern California’s Inland Empire is
one of several valleys throughout the state with a water district
established to support agriculture.
Like the others, the Coachella Valley Water District in Riverside
County delivers water to arid agricultural lands and constructs,
operates and maintains a regional agricultural drainage system.
These systems collect drainage water from individual farm drain
outlets and convey the water to a point of reuse, disposal or
dilution.
