California drought puts spotlight on water theft [Sacramento Bee]
It’s
amazingly easy to steal water from a California stream. Even in this epic
drought, the state has no way of monitoring exactly who is tapping into its
freshwater supplies and how much they take. And those who do get caught taking
water they have no right to often are allowed to keep taking it for years just
by promising to obtain a permit. Nearly 30,000 entities in the state hold valid
water diversion permits, including individual property owners, farmers and
water utilities. Some have meters or gauges to measure their diversions, but
the state has no ability of its own to monitor those gauges in real-time.
People and entities with water rights are required to regularly report their
water use to the state, but many don’t, and the state has no way of knowing if
their accounts – self-reported – are truthful. In average water years, many of
these issues don’t matter much. But the weaknesses are expected to complicate
matters this year as the state struggles to stretch limited water supplies
during the worst drought in 40 years. This spring, it is likely the State Water
Resources Control Board will order some water rights holders to divert less
water to ensure enough flow for cities and wildlife, something that has not
been done since the drought of 1976-77. The state’s ability to enforce such
curtailment orders will be sorely tested.
Drying up the delta:
19th century policies underlie today's crises [Los Angeles Times]
…Thanks
to seniority, powerful Central Valley irrigation districts that most
Californians have never heard of are at the head of the line for vast amounts
of water, even at the expense of the environment and the rest of the state. The
list of the water-rich includes the Glenn-Colusa, Oakdale, South San Joaquin
and Turlock districts. The average amount of Sacramento River water that
Glenn-Colusa growers annually pump, for example, is enough to supply Los
Angeles and San Francisco for a year….Senior rights holders have in fact dodged
years of delivery cuts triggered by the ecological collapse of California's
water hub, the sprawling delta of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers that
lies more than 100 miles downstream of Glenn-Colusa's giant pumps. The delta's
native fish are hovering on the brink of extinction. Its waters are tainted by
farm and urban runoff and infested with invasive species. Most problematic,
biologists say, is the chronic shortage of what defines the delta: fresh water.
California drought:
How water crisis is worse for almonds [San Francisco Chronicle]
Atwater,
Merced County -- A huge shift away from annual crops to nut trees has
transformed the California farm belt over the past two decades and left farmers
perilously vulnerable to the severe drought that is currently gripping the
state. California farmers have spent past years busily ripping out lettuce,
tomatoes and other annual crops in an attempt to sate the nation's growing
appetite for almonds, pistachios and other nuts. The delicious perennials are
lucrative, but the vast orchards that have been planted throughout the Central
Valley require decades-long investments, year-round watering and a commitment
from Mother Nature that she is evidently unwilling to make.
California drought:
So many water bonds, so little time [Contra Costa Times]
As
California's drought drags on, more farmers are being forced to fallow fields
and a growing number of small towns run out of water. So Republicans and
Democrats here finally agree on something: They need to spend billions of
dollars to fix California's broken water system. But that doesn't mean getting
a water bond on November's ballot that voters will approve is a sure thing.
Gov. Jerry Brown hasn't even decided whether he supports the idea, while the
Legislature has come up with seven different schemes aimed at making the next
drought a lot less painful.…Still, longtime Capitol observers see some hope for
a grand compromise.
Farmers prepare for
groundwater testing rules [Visalia Times-Delta]
In
the coming months, farmers in Tulare County and other parts of the Valley will
begin monitoring their groundwater for fertilizers, pesticides and other
contaminants. On top of that, some may also have to come up with better ways to
irrigate and apply their farming chemicals, which could add additional costs beyond
those to test their groundwater. In recent weeks, farmers who irrigate their
land have been learning about these requirements at a series of seminars
detailing these additions to California’s Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program.
Delta solar farm plan
'dead' [Stockton Record]
The
sun has gone down on a farmer's plans to build solar panels on what he
describes as salty, unproductive land on Roberts Island. The death of Michael
J. Robinson's would-be solar farm shows how increasingly difficult it can be to
complete a non-agricultural project within the highly regulated inner core of
the Delta….The project won approval from the San Joaquin County Board of
Supervisors in January 2012, against the advice of county staff. The county's
General Plan says projects in the Delta must be related to water, recreation or
agriculture. But the General Plan was only one hurdle. The property was also
under Williamson Act contract, requiring that it remain in agriculture….Local
and state farm bureaus also opposed the solar farm, arguing that it was an
"industrial" facility simply incompatible with farming.
Ag
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