California's Water Situation: A Primer

When I try to explain the water situation in California to people in the South, they almost act like I'm making all this up. In many ways, it just doesn't sound logical.

Here's the short version:

Drought over the last 3 years led to a shortage of snow in the Sierra Mountains and water in lower-elevation reservoirs, both of which provide irrigation water as the farming season gets underway. Plus, less rain has fallen in the prime farming areas in the state's Central Valley, which includes both the San Joaquin Valley (SJV) and Sacramento Valley.

That, in part, led to mounting restrictions on how much water would be released for farmers by way of water districts.

This year, a huge chunk of the SJV was denied water altogether (though later a 10% allotment was announced by federal regulators). Remember, these are arid regions by most any standard. A year with 20 inches of rain would be considered wet.

In past years there still would have been enough water to supply at least a portion of allotments to SJV irrigation district. But, environmentalists won court rulings that ensure a certain amount of water reaches the Pacific for estuaries that act as spawning grounds for saltwater fish. Essentially, water needed for cotton, tomatoes and a host of permanent crops flows through farmlands via canals and ends up in San Francisco Bay.

No water, no crops. The struggle is to pump enough groundwater (often salty) or buy enough water from other sources (usually expensive) to keep permanent crops like almond trees and grape vines from dying.

All this has led to hardships, both for farmers and farm workers, including many who now live in California year-round and, in some cases, have gained citizenship. This has made for strange bedfellows, with Latino farm workers and activists rallying -- literally and figuratively -- with mostly-Republican farmers and agri-business interests. Hardly a business in the SJV, in fact, isn't seeing a decline in sales, over and above what owners could have expected when 2008 ended with a distressed economy.

The worst-hit area for a number of reasons is the Westlands Water District on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. It's allocation of irrigation water initially was zero for 2009, then bumped up to 10%. Because it's the newest of the SJV's water districts -- dating, actually, to the 1950s -- it was the first to be cut. Productive land that might have been in tomatoes or Pima cotton this year was left unplanted. Farmers in extreme cases are destroying orchards because, without water, they will likely die before this summer is over. Unemployment rates have soared in once-bustling farm communities.

The following is a link to a balanced overview on the situation. Sara Savary, a friend who works as a professional crop advisor in the SJV, forward this to me:

Drought, Politics Trouble Farmers In California

-- Owen Taylor