California water plan unveils hardships to come as drought persists [Sacramento Bee]
As
California’s drought stretches toward the hot summer months, state and federal
officials are planning extraordinary measures to protect drinking water
supplies and endangered Sacramento River salmon, according to a plan unveiled
Wednesday. The “Drought Operations Plan” was released by the state Department
of Water Resources and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operate the primary
systems of water reservoirs and canals in California….The plan does not
increase water delivery allocations previously forecast for agricultural and
municipal agencies throughout the state….David Murillo, Reclamation’s regional
director, said that even if the delivery forecasts improve, conditions are not
likely to improve for everyone. That’s because senior water rights holders
served by Reclamation have first access to any additional water.
The politics of
drought: California water interests prime the pump in Washington [Southern
California Public Radio]
Last
year, as California endured one of its driest years on record, the Westlands
Water District made it rain 3,000 miles away — on Capitol Hill. The nation’s
largest agricultural water district, located in the Central Valley, spent
$600,000 on lobbying efforts, according to an analysis by KPCC in partnership
with the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.…The lobbying comes as
Congress and federal agencies consider how to respond to three years of drought
conditions that have cut water supplies across the state and ratcheted up
political pressure from the hard-hit agricultural sector, including many of
Westlands' customers.…Congress is considering two major legislative…The bills
have the common goal of redistributing water to meet farmers’ needs, but they
differ on execution and the ramifications.
Editorial: Politics won’t end state’s drought [San Francisco
Chronicle]
Sen.
Dianne Feinstein is fast-tracking a bipartisan bill through the Senate that
seeks to unravel decades of carefully crafted protections for the San Francisco
Bay estuary in an effort to divert more water to Southern California farms and
cities.…Changing the rules to benefit one set of water users will harm the rest
of California and will not make it rain. California needs to move away from
efforts to divert water and find better ways to conserve, reuse, recycle and
manage each region's water.…No one disputes that this is the driest period on
record in California, already an arid region. But decisions, made at the
request of water users, to pump more water south last year have left Northern
California reservoirs at critically low levels. This leaves little in reserve
if the state experiences a third year of sparse rainfall. Environmental
advocates call it a politically manufactured drought, because its effects would
be so much less if water managers had held back more water last year.
Stormy debate between
environmentalists, ranchers over river flows [Redding Record Searchlight]
A
coalition trying to persuade state water officials to extend protection to a
group of parched rivers running dry amid a deep drought clashed today with
ranchers who say they already are hurting with water shortages. “We have
nothing left to give. There is nothing left we can compromise. We’re broke,”
said Mark Baird, a rancher who is with Scott Valley Protect Our Water. Both
sides were in Redding for a North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board
public workshop….The group has been petitioning the board on the matter since
2010, said Terence, questioning whether politics has gotten in the way of
action by the state….Ranchers fought back, arguing that the board staff is
working with old data provided to them by environmental groups they feel lack
credibility.
Editorial: California should embrace breakthrough on groundwater
protection [San Jose Mercury News]
In
a remarkable turn of events, California's devastating drought could produce one
of the state's biggest environmental breakthroughs in decades.…For years,
powerful agriculture groups have fought efforts to deal with the state's
depleted groundwater, resisting any limits on farmers pumping from wells on
their property. But on Monday, when the Association of California Water
Agencies (ACWA) released recommendations to solve the state's groundwater
crisis, limits and pump taxes were part of the plan. And the water agencies
from agricultural regions in the Central Valley, the most sensitive to farming
interests, are on board.
Walmart to sell
organic food, undercutting big brands [New York Times]
Walmart
plans to announce on Thursday that it is putting its muscle behind Wild Oats
organic products, offering the label at prices that will undercut brand-name
organic competitors by at least 25 percent. The move by Walmart, the nation’s
largest retailer and grocer, is likely to send shock waves through the organic
market, in which an increasing number of food companies and retailers are
seeking a toehold. “We’re removing the premium associated with organic
groceries,” said Jack L. Sinclair, executive vice president of Walmart U.S.’s
grocery division. The Wild Oats organic products will be priced the same as
similar nonorganic brand-name goods.
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