“Babysitting the water” when it’s drier than the Dust Bowl
In Los Animas, Colo, farmers wait their turn to tap the irrigation canal to water a fraction of their acreage. It’s called babysitting the water and the work can run all night. The Washington Post visited drought-hit sections of Colorado for a story on how drought dries up growers’ finances as well as their land. The past three-and-a-half years have been drier than the Dust Bowl for parts of the state. With no rain, farms and ranches produce little, so the value of the land dwindles too, reducing a family’s assets. The Post quotes Dwight Watson, a rancher near Pueblo, as saying, “There’s a point…at which you start thinking, it’s not worth the investment.”
Writing at Civil Eats about the drought in California, Adam Kotin and Kendall Lambert say, “California legislators are now debating a water bond that has a shot at being passed by voters. We need to do a better job of working directly with farmers on water stewardship practices.” Most of the money from past water bonds has gone to large-scale investment such as canals and pumps, they say. “Only 8% of those dollars went to outreach, education, and technical assistance projects for implementing on-farm water stewardship practices.”