Water Continued from Page 1
Representatives passed an amendment to the 2000 Klamath Basin Water Supply Enhancement Act, which will better dis- tribute $10 million in annual funding for drought relief in the Klamath Basin, send- ing the bill toPresident Trump. Regarding theSustainableGroundwater Management Act, which requires local agencies to achieve groundwater sustain- ability by 2040 or 2042, Scheuring said, “There are differences of opinion about how to achieve sustainability, but there area lot of positiveways tomitigateSGMA besides just everybody tightening theirbelt and sharing the pain.” Kole Upton, a farmer fromChowchilla whoservesontheboardsof theChowchilla WaterDistrict andFriantWaterAuthority, said, “Without additional surface water supplies or bringing in some of the water that is goingout of thedelta, theonly solu- tion down here is fallowing land; there’s just not enough groundwater. “Water is a public benefit for every- body,” he said. “The leadershipnow is not forward thinkingongettingprojects ready for the future.” (Chr i s t ine Souza i s an ass i s tant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contact- ed at csouza@cfbf.com.)
the pumps need to be restricted further.” “When you have the (federal and state) pumpsoperatingat oddswitheachother, it is not a good situation, especially since the stateandfederalgovernmentsaresupposed tooperateinacoordinatedfashion,”hesaid. The bureau, Scheuring said, has strug- gled to deliver project water due to con- straints imposed by the Endangered Species Act and other requirements. That’s alsobeen the case in theKlamath Basin along theCalifornia-Oregonborder, wheretheexecutivedirectorof theKlamath Water Users Association, Paul Simmons, described 2020 as a year “wewould like to forget—even thoughwe can’t.” “Thepaltrywater supplyandcontinued uncertainty translate to the loss of many family farmsanddamage toall farmopera- tionsandrural communities,”hesaid, “not to mention harm to wildlife and prized wildlife refuges.” KlamathProject farmersplannedfor the 2020 season based on an early allocation of 140,000 acre-feet and said they were “blindsided” inMay after the bureau cut the already-short allocation to between 55,000 and75,000 acre-feet. InSeptember, theagencysaiditwoulddelivermorewater. L a s t we e k , t h e U. S . Hou s e o f
what we were going to grow, and we did fallow a couple of blocks,” he said. “When theallocation is20%or less, that’swhenwe have to take a hard look and try to figure outwhatwe’regoing todoas far asmaking our operation profitable.” California Farm Bureau Federation Senior Counsel Chris Scheuring said the state’swaterdelivery systemisdesigned to rideoutdryyears, buthasbecome increas- ingly lessable todosobecauseof changing hydrology and regulatory constraints that often lead to legal action. In 2020, a legal struggle erupted over management of water in the Sacramento- San Joaquin river system. Environmental groups and the state of California chal- lenged biological opinions issued in 2019 by federal fisheries agencies for long-term operations of the CVP and State Water Project, seeking a return to previous bio- logical opinions and possible reductions inwaterdeliveries,pendingfinal resolution of the dispute. In July, farmers who rely on CVP deliv- eries earned an initial victory when a fed- eral judge denied environmental groups’ request for an injunction that would have required the bureau to reduce water allo- cations tomanage water temperatures in the Sacramento River below Shasta Dam. The groups sought more cold water for spring- andwinter-run chinook salmon. In thecomingyear, Scheuringpredicted “more arguments in court about whether
buildmorewater storagehere inCalifornia. It would’vebeennice if we’dalreadyhad it; we could have caught those rains last year and itwoulddefinitely alleviate all the fears going into this comingyear.” Good reservoir storage froma wet 2019 tempered the impact of dry weather in 2020. The CaliforniaDepartment ofWater Resourcesreportedstatewidereservoirstor- ageat theendof September stoodat 93%of average, or 21.5million-acre feet. But reser- voirsreceivedjustathirdof thewater runoff fromprecipitation and snowmelt that they didduring the sameperiodayear earlier. “We had an above-average year in 2019 that led to the fifth-best snowpack in California history, but then January and February came in and it was the driest February on record,” DWR public infor- mation officer Chris Orrock said. Fresno County farmer Joe Allen, who grows cantaloupes, wheat and cotton nearFirebaughandfarms intheWestlands Water District, said “pretty decent carry- over” from the prior year gave farmers “a little bit of water toworkwith.” Westlands, a federal contractor through the Central Valley Project, received a 20% water allocation this year from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Allen called the 20% allocation “some- what disappointing.” “That really changed our thinking of
The Produce Safety Rule is Here; ARE YOU READY?
Farm Employers Labor Service (FELS), an affiliated company of the California Farm Bureau Federation (CFBF), has partnered with the Safe Food Alliance through a California Department of Food and Agriculture grant contract, as their designated training provider for Central and Southern California, to conduct the required Produce Safety training for growers. Presented in a free two-day remote delivery webinar format! What sets Safe Food Alliance, FELS, and Farm Bureau apart is their total of over 100 years of experience and our dedication to providing technical guidance and leadership to the California agriculture community. Most farms are required to have at least one designated supervisor who has been trained in accordance with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety rule. Upon completion of the course, attendees will receive an official certificate from the Association of Food & Drug Officials.
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October 7, 2020 Ag Alert 13
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