This has got to hurt in California

I'm glad it isn't this bad here.



Drought to cut off federal water to Calif. farms


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Feb 20, 4:36 PM (ET)

By GARANCE BURKE
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Federal water managers said Friday that they plan to cut off water, at least temporarily, to thousands of California farms as a result of the deepening drought gripping the state.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials said parched reservoirs and patchy rainfall this year were forcing them to completely stop surface water deliveries for at least a two-week period beginning March 1. Authorities said they haven't had to take such a drastic move for more than 15 years.

The situation could improve slightly if more rain falls over the next few weeks, and officials will know by mid-March if they can release more irrigation supplies to growers.

Farmers in the nation's No. 1 agriculture state predicted it would cause consumers to pay more for their fruits and vegetables, which would have to be grown using expensive well water.

"Water is our life - it's our jobs and it's our food," said Ryan Jacobsen, executive director of the farm bureau in Fresno County. "Without a reliable water supply, Fresno County's No. 1 employer - agriculture - is at great risk."

The drought would cause an estimated $1.15 billion dollar loss in agriculture-related wages and eliminate as many as 40,000 jobs in farm-related industries in the San Joaquin Valley alone, where most of the nation's produce and nut crops are grown, said Lester Snow, director of the Department of Water Resources.

California's agricultural industry typically receives 80 percent of all the water supplies managed by the federal government - everything from far-off mountain streams and suburban reservoirs. The state supplies drinking water to 23 million residents and 755,000 acres of irrigated farmland.

Farms supplied by flows from the state's system of pumps and canals would also see cutbacks but still get 15 percent of their normal deliveries, Snow said.

This year, both the state and federal reservoirs have reached their lowest level since 1992.

Dwindling supplies would have to be routed to cities to ensure residents, hospitals and fire crews have enough to meet minimum health and safety needs, said Don Glaser, the federal reclamation bureau's Mid-Pacific Region director.

The water shortages are so severe most cities will have to start mandatory ration programs by summertime, and residents will be asked to reduce their usage by 20 percent, Snow said.

"You've got to think about water as a precious resource," he said. "It may seem a stretch to conserve 20 percent of your water, but that's nothing in comparison to the consequences of the drought and job loss in agriculture."

what's sad is that in most resevoir's the out flow is MORE than the inflow.  this is political pure and simple.  yet we keep importing more people.  this is actually affecting me.  a couple of surveys are around to NOT cut this water off but reduce the pressure dramatically as many people water livestock with this water and don't have the means OR MONEY to water them with domestic sources, which are typically significantly higher in salt, boron etc.

i installed 1.28gpf toilets, as the state is going to massively regulate septic tanks and leach lines.  one way they are going to do this is a point of sale inspection process.  not sure what the specifics are yet, but if you have to replace a tank, and install an additional leach line, it could cost 5-15K.  in my area, NO new leach lines are even allowed.  new sewer hookups are about $16,000.  wonder how illegal aliens are going to afford water, sewer, solar, wind, electric vehicles?

last year, CA had an outflow of 150,000 people, a growing trend and only going to get worse, now that vehicle reg is DOUBLED, sales tax increased 1% with some counties now with a sales tax of 11%, YES 11 PERCENT.  mine will be 9.25%.

i can't think of a better way to depress the economy.  we pay about 12.5 BILLION on illegal aliens/year, and the new spendulus bill waives the electronic employee verification.  so YOUR tax dollar is going to be used to pay illegal aliens.

but we neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed to keep voting for republicans and democrats.

There isn't enough water in lots of places in this country.  We grow things where they weren't meant to be grown.  It's great while it works, but it doesn't work forever.  Last time I looked (which has been a while), AZ was the leading cotton producing state in the country.  Does that pass the common sense test?

California needs to chase a bunch of people out.  That would solve a bunch of their natural resource related problems.  Unfortunately, the rest of us don't want them .

Our state (WA) has seen alot of transplants from California.  If they can make it through a few of our winters they'll stay.  Kinda hard to go from sunny all the time to cloudy most of the time, at least on the west side of the state. 

chambero said:

There isn't enough water in lots of places in this country.  We grow things where they weren't meant to be grown.  It's great while it works, but it doesn't work forever.  Last time I looked (which has been a while), AZ was the leading cotton producing state in the country.  Does that pass the common sense test?

California needs to chase a bunch of people out.  That would solve a bunch of their natural resource related problems.  Unfortunately, the rest of us don't want them .

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beavers make dams, so do humans.  ending subsidies addresses cotton.  what hurts though, is when the government buys up the headlands for water rights, and or underground rights and then places restrictions on those that have underground rights and raising cost through a variety of means (including immigration).  the government imports 130,000 people every month, placing more pressure on water.  i pay $1000/year for ag water and only am allowed to use $150/year (have to pay retirement and health care to those employees, which happened to have a large number of cancer treatment last year).  something has to give.  we basically have a static population growth, yet we keep importing people who don't to fuel more spending.  the problem is growth and our addiction to it to finance undefined benefits with defined contributions which don't meet the benefit, and that segment of the population, ie government employees, is growing as we add more regulation every year.  we need to quit subsidizing growth.  for some reason, the private sector is evil.

we need to chase this salary structure out

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/23/congress-will-investigate-postmasters-pay/

Congress will hold a hearing next month into why Postmaster General John E. Potter has gotten a nearly 40 percent pay raise since 2006 and was awarded a six-figure incentive bonus last year, even as the U.S. Postal Service faces a multibillion-dollar shortfall that threatens a day of mail delivery.

ALLISON SHELLEY/THE WASHINGTON TIMES REWARDED: Postmaster General John E. Potter received a compensation package totaling more than $800,000 for fiscal 2008.

"Last year, the Postal Service took a loss of nearly $3 billion and recommended that the public take austere cuts in service to allow it to operate, including cutting a day of mail delivery and raising the price of stamps," Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, Massachusetts Democrat, said Friday.