Below is a graph showing the water use of California crops. As you can see, forage and alfalfa for livestock are the two thirstiest crops. Question in this time of impending climate crisis: Does it make sense to raise these thirsty crops in California at a time when available water is over allocated and our and our streams have substantially impaired flows for fish, wildlife and people relying on […]
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Chloe Sorvino Forbes Staff Sep 22, 2022, 06:30am EDT Broiling heat in the middle of the worst drought in 1,200 years has strained the state’s underground water supply, pitting the Central Valley’s $20 billion agriculture industry against many of its own workers. Nature has a way of telling people when their wells are running dry. […]
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By JET PROPULSION LABORATORY APRIL 9, 2022 Researchers have untangled puzzling patterns of sinking and rising land to pin down the underground locations where water is being pumped for irrigation. Scientists have produced a new method that holds the promise of improving groundwater management – critical to both life and agriculture in dry regions. The method sorts […]
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While a drought has raged, there have been exceptions to conserving potable water from irrigating trees for nuts that will be largely exported out of the state. See these videos to learn more.
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Why do people keep acting in s they know will ruin them? That question, so central to climate change, is at the heart of a new book about the emptying of the Ogallala Aquifer by farming in the American West, with potentially catastrophic consequences.
In “Running Out: In Search of Water on the High Plains,” Lucas Bessire writes that the aquifer, which runs from South Dakota […]
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Sep 3, 2021 California’s re-emerging drought is placing unprecedented strain on the state’s intricate water system, threatening mass agricultural production and basic drinking water in a way experts say is more severe than in years past. Federal officials on Aug. 16 declared a first-ever water shortage from the Colorado River — which supplies drinking and irrigation water […]
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California’s farmers are pumping vast amounts of water from underground aquifers this year to make up for water they can’t get from rivers. It’s unsustainable, and the state is moving to stop it.July 23, 2021
The next time you pick up some California-grown carrots or melons in the grocery store, consider the curious, contested odyssey of the water that fed them. Chances are, farmers pumped that water from underground aquifers […]
Years of pumping, drought and a thirsty agriculture industry have taken a heavy toll on the water supply – and new plans are leaving vulnerable residents behind by Susie CagleFri 28 Feb 2020 When Carolina Garcia’s well began pumping sand and air instead of water in 2016, she didn’t know where to turn. The Garcias had […]
Read Moreby Liz Kimbrough on 10 March 2020 The new data reveals record-breaking global tree cover loss for 2016 through 2018. In 2018 alone, the area of tree cover loss was larger than the UK. Agriculture continues to drive tree cover loss globally and in the tropics while forestry and wildfires drive forest loss in North America. Across […]
Read MoreTo All, Here is one of those serious issues that has not been adequately addressed due to the power of money in politics as well as being an invisible threat. It is past time that the issue of pesticides gets exposed, creates public outrage and forces the invisible poisons into containment. What’s on those vines? […]
Read MoreJudge Strips State Food Agriculture Agency of Authority to Use Chemicals SACRAMENTO, Calif – A judge has ordered the California Department of Food and Agriculture to stop using chemical pesticides in its statewide program until the agency complies with state environmental laws. The injunction, issued late last week, is a sweeping victory for 11 public-health, conservation, citizen and food-safety groups and the city […]
Read MoreThe state has a long-term plan to clean up nitrate-contaminated groundwater, but farmers say more research is still needed and environmental groups think the proposal isn’t strong enough. Written by Erica Gies Published on Aug. 31, 2017 When folks talk about “black gold” in California’s Central Valley, it’s usually a reference to oil – unless you’re in the […]
Read MoreA new study highlights the health risks of consuming water contaminated with nitrates. (Photo: Chesapeake Bay Program/Flickr) Oct 4, 2016 Jason Best is a regular contributor to TakePart who has worked for Gourmet and the Natural Resources Defense Council. When it comes to the chemical free-for-all that generally characterizes industrial agriculture’s approach to modern farming, […]
Read MorePRESS RELEASE | FRIDAY, JUL 22, 2016 Wishtoyo Foundation filed a lawsuit Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court against the State Water Resources Control Board over the use and management of recycled water throughout California. Wishtoyo alleges that new regulations issued by the State Board on June 7, 2016, fail to adhere to the requirements […]
Read MoreA pending Iowa case could set a new national precedent for water pollution stemming from farms. Aug 02, 2016 Joseph Erbentraut Senior Reporter, The Huffington Post Earlier this month, the Iowa Soybean Association had a big announcement to make. The group, which represents some 11,000 growers of the state’s second-most-lucrative crop, pledged $150,000 in support for three highly […]
Read MoreA pending Iowa case could set a new national precedent for water pollution stemming from farms. Aug 02, 2016 Joseph Erbentraut Senior Reporter, The Huffington Post Earlier this month, the Iowa Soybean Association had a big announcement to make. The group, which represents some 11,000 growers of the state’s second-most-lucrative crop, pledged $150,000 in support […]
Read MoreTo All, This Lawsuit Has Put Big Ag On The Defensive In A Major Way A pending Iowa case could set a new national precedent for water pollution stemming from farms. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/des-moines-water-iowa-farm-lawsuit_us_579a4957e4b0d3568f867e28?section= Three highly agricultural counties — Buena Vista, Calhoun and Sac — named in a controversial lawsuit brought by the Des Moines Water Works. […]
Read MoreDELTA NEWS, July 24, 2016 BY DALE KASLER AND RYAN SABALOW dkasler@sacbee.com Still swirling in controversy, Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed $15.5 billion re-engineering of the troubled Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is heading into a critical phase over the next year that could well decide if the project comes to fruition. Crunch time starts Tuesday. The State […]
Read MoreKey hearing for water project starts this week By Alex Breitler Record Staff Writer Posted Jul. 23, 2016 at 5:11 PM When testimony begins Tuesday in a months-long hearing that could decide the fate of the $15 billion Delta water tunnels, amid all the acronyms and complexities and water-wonk jargon there will be a simple, […]
Read MoreThis tranquil ranching valley lies 15 miles west of the Sacramento River. A one-lane bridge spans a dried-up creek at the valley entrance. But when Jeff Sutton stands there, he imagines water, lots of it. Never mind that talk of flooding the Antelope Valley north of Sacramento and turning it into a reservoir is older […]
Read MoreTo All, WOW! This could prove to be beneficial for efforts to improve flows. Chris The purpose of this message is to provide information about a new water measurement law which will affect water right holders and diverters who divert more than 10 acre-feet of water per year. The law includes a new reporting requirement […]
Read MoreOctober 12, 2015 Groundwater Act Blog Prior to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), the primary method for solving groundwater disputes and protecting groundwater basins was litigation. When over-pumping led to a crisis like seawater intrusion or chronic overdraft, people had little choice but to file a massive lawsuit—called an adjudication—in which all rights to […]
Read MoreDear friends in Napa/Sonoma: In March 2015, the World Health Organization's (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France ruled that the broad-spectrum systemic herbicide glyphosate — the active ingredient in Round-Up — is a likely carcinogen. Studies have linked the herbicide, which is widely used in agribusiness to control weeds, to […]
Read MoreOn the Russian River, grape growing and fish don’t always mix By Will Parrish In July, roughly 1,000 rural Sonoma County residents overflowed classrooms and small meeting chambers at five informational sessions convened by the State Water Resources Control Board. It would be hard to exaggerate many attendees’ outrage. At one meeting, two men got […]
Read MoreBy Geoffrey Mohan These days, the redwood-shaded creek by Laura and Ray Waldbaum’s house is a bone-dry path of rocks and gravel, its occasional stagnant pools a somber reminder of the salmon that once thrived there. Fewer than 500 endangered coho now wend their way from a network of such creeks to the Russian River […]
Read MoreJuly 31, 2015 · Will Parrish The AVA California’s slow-mo adoption of groundwater regulations is prompting all sorts of legal maneuvers by the state’s irrigation elite, who are striving for the fewest restrictions on their pumps possible. In the Russian River watershed, from where I write this dispatch, arguably the irrigation elite’s elitist elites are […]
Read MoreEnvironmentalists are mobilizing in protest of a would-be bill backed by the local wine industry that would create an irrigation district intended to protect the water rights of about 1,000 grape growers in the Russian River region. Noting that Sonoma County is facing “urgent water supply” problems unique to the Russian River watershed, the legislation […]
Read MoreI began sending out my article on the founding of the Wine and Water Watch (WWW) group yesterday. It has already been published in at least the following places, which include India and Virginia. It will likely be published elsewhere in the next few days. If you google the words “wine and water watch” with […]
Read MoreAugust 19, 2015 Maven Maven note: Headline is the one issued with the press release. It should perhaps more properly be: “Groundwater Subsidence Causing Valley Land to Sink” From the Department of Water Resources: As Californians continue pumping groundwater in response to the historic drought, the Department of Water Resources today released a new NASA […]
Read MoreDuring the drought, the state has failed to safeguard water supplies and the environment, and now there’s a growing call to finally fix California’s archaic “water rights” system. By Will Parrish In a decision bursting with symbolism, the California State Water Resources Control Board recently announced its intention to draw down the main water supply […]
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