'Nobody's going to get the amount of water they are hoping for,' says secretary of the interior as she tours south Delta export pumps in S.J. [Stockton Record]
President
Barack Obama's lead adviser on water and wildlife toured the enormous south
Delta export pumps Tuesday, examining the roaring, 22,500-horsepower pumps
before cautioning that no one would receive all the water they need this year.
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell told reporters that state and
federal governments will have to be flexible to make the best use of a limited
amount of water. "Mother Nature has created this drought," she said.
"This drought is not created by the Bureau of Reclamation or the state of
California. Working together, we can put as much flexibility in place as
possible to satisfy as many users as possible, recognizing that nobody's going
to get the amount of water they are hoping for."
California to dam
Delta sloughs if drought persists [Sacramento Bee]
In
yet another sign of the severe drought facing California, state water officials
are planning to temporarily dam three channels in the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta to control salinity intrusion from San Francisco Bay. The California
Department of Water Resources is working to place the barriers as soon as May
1, if the drought persists. The agency is scrambling to obtain the necessary
permits and notify property owners who could be affected….The urgency of the
project is a reminder of how important Delta water supplies are to many facets
of the California economy….Holderman said one motivation for the project is to
prepare for the possibility that the drought could continue into 2015.
Controlling salinity levels in the Delta this summer, he said, would help
ensure the estuary can be used to distribute limited freshwater supplies next
year.
Modesto Irrigation
District leaders discuss delaying filling canals, revisiting water sales among
farmers [Modesto Bee]
A
recent series of storms should provide farmers with a bit more water this
summer and enable yet another delay to the start of the irrigation season,
Modesto Irrigation District leaders said Tuesday. Also, some board members want
to revisit the idea of farmers selling to one another their shares of MID
water. The district additionally may look into having landowners with private
wells pump groundwater into nearby canals, perhaps in exchange for water or
power credits, a common practice in the Turlock Irrigation District….MID
officials a month ago served notice that growers might get as little as 18
inches of water per acre this year because of the drought. February rain has
pushed that estimate to 20 inches, and leaders wanting to extend irrigating
further into the fall asked Tuesday that canals begin filling April 6, four
weeks later than initially planned. The good news does not mean the drought has
ended, and 20 inches won’t rescue crops without additional water bought from
others or pumped from private wells.
Farm to fork:
California drought to drive up food prices in the long term [San Jose Mercury
News]
With
2013 the driest year on record and 2014 possibly worse, the devastation of
California's drought is trickling down to crops, fields, farmers markets, grocery
stores — and the kitchen table. While it's too early to tell precisely how much
the drought will push up household grocery bills, economists say consumers can
expect to pay more for food later this year because fewer acres of land are
being planted and crop yields are shrinking. Large grocery chains have
distribution networks and can import produce from around the world to keep
customers in everything from cantaloupe to cauliflower, but experts say
California's smaller yields will inevitably lead to higher consumer prices here
and elsewhere. Some consumers already are plotting ways to keep their food
budgets under control if there is a big spike in prices.
Opinion: Groundwater management emerges as new water debate
issue [Sacramento Bee]
A
legislative committee kicked around California’s water dilemma the other day –
not only its current drought but its longer-term demand/supply imbalance….An
Assembly hearing on Tuesday focused on overdrafting, especially in the Central
Valley, and what’s being done to reduce it….The groundwater issue is not going
away and Brown and like-minded lawmakers could insist that it be included in
pending water bond legislation. That said, the best antidote to overpumping
would be more above- or below-ground storage to ease droughts’ impact – another
big issue in the bond bill.
Editorial: California’s egg law faces an uphill legal fight —
unless Congress steps in [Washington Post]
CALIFORNIA
WAS the first state to crack down on tailpipe emissions and the first to
establish a comprehensive in-state greenhouse gas program. Now it is
positioning itself as a national leader on animal rights — if, that is, its
move to give hens more cage room survives a legal attack from other states.
Unfortunately, California’s legal case isn’t as strong as its moral
one….Missouri sued last month, arguing that the Constitution gives Congress the
exclusive right to regulate commerce that crosses state lines. Last week, five
other states, including Iowa, joined in. Though California’s law treats all
businesses — in-state and otherwise — the same, the state has to show that its
effects on commerce outside the state are small relative to the local concerns
it addresses. That is, rightly, a tough standard : Without strong and exclusive
federal regulation of interstate commerce, states could enact all sorts of
nice-sounding laws in an effort to benefit local producers. Congress could and
should step in to establish more humane farming rules, or at least to
grandfather California’s law. Federal lawmakers did something similar for the
state’s tailpipe emissions program when they passed the Clean Air Act. Absent
federal action, and if the courts rule against the state, California could at
least demand labels to distinguish eggs produced according to state standards
from those that aren’t. That would give Californians an opportunity to vote at
the store as well as the ballot box.
Ag
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