Federal government cuts water supply to farms On January 1 the federal National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) instituted a management action that reduces water deliveries to 25 million Californians and millions of acres of struggling drought impacted farmland. All of this is done in the name of protecting salmon. But fish don’t have calendars. Regrettably, […]
Reduced Pumping Now May Protect Future Supplies The Department of Water Resources (DWR) and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) are experimenting with pumping reductions for several days to prevent a “turbidity bridge” from occurring in the central and south Delta. Delta smelt are attracted to […]
Opposition to H.R. 5781 is Misleading H.R. 5781, Congressman David Valadao’s drought relief bill requires water exports to stay within the existing salmon and Delta smelt biological opinions. Concerns raised by NRDC’s Doug Obegi are a red herring to thwart progress on providing water to a parched Central Valley. Exports may increase, as Obegi says, […]
Water Allocation is Good News, But Doesn’t End Drought The following is a statement by Executive Director Mike Wade of the California Farm Water Coalition in response to the DWR announcement of 10 percent water allocation from the State Water Project.) “Today’s announcement that the State Water Project will deliver an initial allocation of 10 […]
On the Abandonment of Federal Drought Legislation “California’s Central Valley has shouldered more than its share of the pain brought on by reduced water deliveries and the drought. For more than 20 years, misguided environmental policies have drained California of over 20 million acre-feet of water – water that was originally intended to grow food. […]
News Line – November 24, 2014 Read the latest news about issues affecting agriculture and farm water in California. No Coalition Responses Today Other News Water Bond OPINION: California opens door to new chapter in water policy From: J. Coleman & K. Tiegs, Sacramento Bee For California water managers, 2014 has been one for […]
News Line – November 21, 2014 Read the latest news about issues affecting agriculture and farm water in California. No Coalition Responses Today Other News Water Supply Feinstein shuts off California water talks until 2015 From: Michael Doyle, McClatchy DC Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California on Thursday pulled the plug on secret, high-stakes […]
News Line – November 20, 2014 Read the latest news about issues affecting agriculture and farm water in California. No Coalition Responses Today Other News Water Supply EDITORIAL: Why are U.S. lawmakers making California water deals in secret? From: Staff, Los Angeles Times California made extraordinary progress on water policy in this severe drought […]
CBS News recently focused on the impacts of groundwater pumping in California, but the causes were avoidable. Improving the reliability of surface water to avoid extracting groundwater from aquifers was a primary goal of California’s water projects. The reality is, California groundwater overdraft impacts were preventable. We applaud 60 Minutes for discussing the important issue […]