The order by Gov. Jerry Brown for a 25-percent reduction in urban water use “reopened a generations-old, urban-versus-rural debate about who should control California’s water and how it can best be used,” says the San Diego Union-Tribune. Critics say agriculture got a free pass from Brown because of political clout. The farm bloc says it already endures cutbacks. This is the second year of “zero allocation” of federal irrigation water to farmers and the state has cut its allocation to farms to 20 percent of normal, says the Union-Tribune.
Some of the math appears simple – cities use 20 percent of the state’s water and agriculture consumes 80 percent. The New York Times cited the research group Pacific Foundation as saying half of residential use is outdoors, primarily for lawns. California Citrus Mutual says in a San Francisco Chronicle story that the state needs to consider allotting less water for environmental purposes, such as sustaining fish and wildlife, which gets half of the overall supply. By that calculation, agriculture accounts for 80 percent of water for drinking and irrigation, but 40 percent of total use.
The Chronicle quoted Brown as saying on the PBS “NewsHour,” “Agriculture is fundamental to California. And, yes, they use most of the water, and they produce the food and the fiber that we all depend on and which we export to countries all around the world. So, we’re asking them too to give us information, to file agriculture water plans, to manage their underground water, to share with other farmers.”
According to the New York Times, “State officials signaled on Friday that reductions in water supplies for farmers were likely to be announced in coming weeks and there is likely to be increased pressure on the farms to move away from certain water-intensive crops like almonds.” It quotes Katrina Jessoe, an assistant professor at UC-Davis, as saying, “The big question is agriculture and there are difficult trade-offs that need to be made.”
Said the Union-Tribune: “On Friday, the State Water Resources Control Board warned that water-rights holders, including some senior rights holders, are likely to be curtailed soon within key watersheds in the state. The state and federal agencies that operate California’s major reservoirs are among the water rights holders. Any curtailment of their rights would mean smaller water deliveries to their customers, many of whom are farmers and ranchers. Last year, curtailments affected more than 5,000 water rights statewide, according to state officials.”
UC-Davis estimated that growers fallowed 400,000 acres last year due to drought, which reduced revenue by $2.2 billion and eliminated 17,000 seasonal and farm-worker jobs. Mayor Robert Silva of Mendota, in the Central Valley, said in the New York Times story that unemployment has soared among farmworkers and families increasingly are reliant on food donations. “You can’t pay bills with free food,” Silva said, and irrigation water would put people to work.
The California director of Food and Water Watch told the Washington Post, “There’s booming almond production in the Central Valley. It takes four times as much water to grow almonds in the heat of the valley. The solution is to buy out the farmers and put the land to other uses.”
In the Post story, Felicia Marcus, chair of the state Water Resources Control Board, called the urban/rural split on water “an artificial breakdown” because “urban users depend upon agricultural production. It’s not about finger-pointing. It’s about everyone having to step up.”
“As California gears up for the first mandatory water restrictions in its history, a long-standing class divide about water use is becoming increasingly apparent,” said the Los Angeles Times. Water use averages 70 gallons per person per day; “wealthier neighborhoods consume three times more water than less-affluent ones.”
Agriculture is a $40-billion business in California – big, but still only a fraction of the state economy. The state leads the nation in value of agricultural production. California is known for fruit and vegetables. It also is No. 1 in milk production as well as the source of world-class wine. NBC News says the “four-year drought may be close to catching up with California’s winemakers, and it’s the small producers of inexpensive wine that are likely to be hit hardest.”
With less water available, the executive director of the California Farm Water Coalition told Bloomberg that farmers will plant fewer tomatoes, remove some vineyards, and grow less feed for dairy and beef cows. Growers supplemented water supplies in the early years of the drought by drilling deeper wells but aquifers are being depleted, says the New York Times.
Past confrontations over water suggest that the cities will prevail over agriculture in the end.
A story appearing at Ensia in partnership with FERN looked at how farmers are helping each other survive the drought.