Future
water price, availability in question [San Diego Union-Tribune]
In
the coming months California will confront an unusual confluence of challenges
that could determine the price and availability of water for decades to come.
Moreover, the looming decisions will test the state’s commitment to
revitalizing one of the nation’s most economically and environmentally
important estuaries: the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, How these developments
play out will have considerable consequences for the San Diego region. The San
Diego County Water Authority taps the Sacramento delta and Colorado River for
most of its supplies delivered by the giant Metropolitan Water District.
In
California, what price water? [New York Times]
…Large-scale
ocean desalination, a technology that was part of President John F. Kennedy’s
vision of the future half a century ago, has stubbornly remained futuristic in
North America, even as sizable plants have been installed in water-poor regions
like the Middle East and Singapore. The industry’s hope is that the $1 billion
Carlsbad plant, whose builders broke ground at the end of the year, will show
that desalination is not an energy-sucking, environmentally damaging, expensive
white elephant, as its critics contend, but a reliable, affordable technology,
a basic item on the menu of water sources the country will need. Proposals for
more than a dozen other seawater desalination plants, including at least two as
big as Carlsbad — one at Huntington Beach, 60 miles north of here, and one at
Camp Pendleton, the Marine Corps base — are pending along shorelines from the
San Francisco Bay Area southward. Several of these are clustered on the
midcoast around Monterey and Carmel.
Snow
survey confirms driest Jan., Feb. on record for California [Associated Press]
It's
official, and it's not good news for thirsty Californians: January and February
have been the driest on record. The monthly snow survey, anticipated by farmers
and municipalities who depend on snowmelt to supplement water supplies, showed
Thursday what everyone has known: despite a few good dumps the state hasn't
received the kind of major storms needed to ease water managers' worries.
"It's disappointing, but not really a surprise," said Frank Gehrke,
who as head of California's cooperative snow survey program takes manual
measurements once a month near Echo Summit in El Dorado County to supplement
electronic monitoring.
Group
urges dairies to cut production at Visalia meeting [Visalia Times-Delta]
Willem
Deboer of Tulare said the system that determines how much he and other dairy
operators get for their milk is broken, and Thursday morning he went to the
Holiday Inn in Visalia to find out if there might be a way to fix it. “This is
a new road. We need to try every avenue, at this point,” said Deboer, one of
about 20 people who run dairies and dairy-related businesses who came to the
hotel to hear a proposal from the National Dairy Producers Organization, Inc.
The Fresno-based nonprofit launched in 2011 to promote the interests of dairies
across the United States, from developing legislation to help the industry to
proposing new business practices intended to pull the industry out of a
financial downturn that began in the fall of 2008.
Battling
citrus pest [Santa Maria Times]
The
first blow in the battle against the Asian citrus psyllid, a deadly threat to
all citrus trees, was struck Thursday as the California Department of Food and
Agriculture began spraying trees in Santa Maria. Contractors working for CDFA
and Santa Barbara County began treating citrus trees throughout central Santa Maria
looking to eradicate the disease-carrying bug. “Back in mid-November, the first
Asian citrus psyllid was detected in a backyard in a citrus tree trap, and
shortly after that, a month later, we found a second one, which has triggered
an eradication program,” said county Agricultural Commissioner Cathy Fisher.
“The Asian citrus psyllid is a very serious pest to the citrus industry,
because it carries a deadly disease called Huanglongbing also known as HLB,
which is deadly to citrus trees. There is no cure for the HLB.”
S.J.
almond growers optimistic [Stockton Record]
As
orchards throughout California put on showy displays of white blossoms, farmers
look for a strong bloom and good weather to set the stage for a big crop this
fall….The bloom season is somewhat later than normal, delayed by cold
temperatures in January and February, but that's not a problem, said Phil
Brumley, an Escalon grower.…For California overall, the picture is much the
same, said Dave Baker, director of grower relations for the Blue Diamond
growers cooperative.…There have been some concerns, Baker said. There were a
couple of days of strong north winds hitting orchards in bloom, which can
reduce the viability of pollen and possibly affect the resulting nut crop.
However, none of those contacted reported knowledge of shortages of honeybees,
whose activity in pollinating almond blossoms is critical, despite some reports
to the contrary.
Ag
Today is distributed to county Farm Bureaus, CFBF directors and CFBF staff, for
information purposes, by the CFBF Communications/News Division, 916-561-5550; news@cfbf.com.
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