California Farmers Prepare for Impending Drought
California farmers have been given a stark warning that there will be shortages of water supplies this summer. The Department of Water Resources (DWR) forecast a 50% cut of contracted supply.
Several statistics warn drought is near. DWRs California Data Exchange Center shows that the statewide snow water equivalent is 28% below normal. The U.S. Drought Monitor shows the 96.54 of the state is experience drought conditions. However, the DWR estimates that a drought declaration, which can only be issued by Governor Gavin Newsom, is at least a year away.
Making the situation worse, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which supplies water through the Central Valley Project, has told farmers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that delivery is not available until further notice. The DWR has filed a new drought contingency plan with the Department of Fish and Wildlife to provide direction to manage water supply and the impact on endangered species.
The State Water Resources Control Board has mailed notices to 40,000 farmers and municipal officials warning to be prepared for water shortages this year, stating:
“Start planning now for potential water supply shortages later this year and identify practical actions you can take to increase drought resilience, such as increasing water conservation measures, reducing irrigated acreage, managing herd size, using innovative irrigation and monitoring technologies, or diversifying your water supply portfolio.”
State Water Resources Control Board
California is suffering the second consecutive dry winter, with the Sierra Nevada snowpack being 37% below normal. The spring melt from this snowpack is essential to fill state reservoirs and major rivers. These scant water projections are flashing red lights for the states $50 billion-a-year agricultural system, which produces 100% of the nation’s processing tomatoes, 88% of its strawberries and 57% of its peaches.
In a letter to Gov. Newsom, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Thomas J. Vilsack declared “50 California counties as primary natural disaster areas due to a recent drought.” Natural disaster areas include counties contiguous to those designated, thus including all of California.
This drought designation makes farm operators eligible for assistance from the Farm Service Agency. This assistance includes emergency loans.
Now for over 100 years we have all been warned about water shortage, and the age old saying was, “waste not, want not” , but there was so much why conserve or look for ways to cut water usage or keep the water clean, none of that applies, but another old saying comes into play, “You never miss the water until the well goes dry.”
The beautiful Colorado river has been so polluted mainly by farming operations run off and industrial dumping, that it is criminal the condition it is in today, and it is not only the Colorado River, before Trump did away with the clear water bill the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland was getting cleaner every year now it is been backed up to where it was 6 years before Trump took office, just because the professionals in the field were taken out of the picture, and the same is happened all over this USA and most of the World, more money less conservation in any way, do not protect the environment, just do what we have to do to make more money.
If there are no trees, bushes, grass; why would you need water? Go replant the forest and the rain will come.
Stop wasting water on golf courses, yards, and athletic fields. Use salt water pools!