|
 "Man-made drought," the banners draped across fences and cotton
trailers proclaim in large, bold letters. "Congress-created dust
bowl" and "Food grows where water flows."
The signs in the Central Valley, which provides many of the nation's
fruits and vegetables, are a reminder of California's decades-old
water war, a conflict stemming from large numbers of people living
and farming in areas where the resource is scarce.
Some signs, put up by farmers long ago, are weathered from rain and
faded from sun. Several hundred others went up in recent weeks,
courtesy of an advocacy group for farmers.
But in a year of heavy rains and a formidable Sierra snowpack, with
California's three-year drought officially over and most farmers
getting all their contracted irrigation water, the signs strike some
as odd.
"I just drove on the highway and those signs have a backdrop of
green fields, green grasses," said Jim Metropulos, an advocate at
Sierra Club California. "I said wow, these fields seem to be planted
with a commodity crop, farmers seem to be irrigating. Where is the
drought?"
The signs protest federal environmental regulations that farmers say
have limited their access to water to protect smelt and salmon.
Environmentalists say they create a misperception of drought and its
causes.
"What we've got is a huge public relations campaign to create the
impression of a Congress-created dustbowl that doesn't exist," said
Bill Jennings, executive director of the California Sportfishing
Protection Alliance.
On Highway 99, a few miles north of Chowchilla in the small
community of Le Grand, Joe Marchini has just put up several signs on
the edge of his wheat and tomato fields. "Farm Water Cut (equals)
Higher Food Cost!" says one tacked to a fence by the buzzing
highway. Marchini, who has been farming for 50 years, had to idle
some land during the drought, and he said other farmers lost their
land.
"I've never had to fight for water like I had in the past five
years," Marchini said. "They starved us for water. The signs are
very valid, because people forget and you have to keep reminding
them what farmers went through."
His signs were paid for by Families Protecting the Valley, a farmer
organization that advocates for water for agriculture.
"Our goal is to educate people," said Russ Waymire, a pistachio
industry consultant and board member with the group. "We have a
water problem here and we need to work together to solve it."
This year's relative abundance of water aside, Waymire said the
signs focus on what he believes is the bigger picture: Restrictions
meant to save threatened fish unfairly target farmers.
"Sewage discharges are killing the fish and yet they have been able
to blame our pumps and they have been shutting them off," he said.
[to top of second column] |
 But even Waymire and Marchini concede the messages may be confusing.
The signs list draconian cuts to farmers' water supply: 65 percent
in 2008, 60 percent in 2009 and 50 percent last year. Those figures
refer to cuts by a state water project that pumps water from the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta for farmers and cities. Other
signs refer to cuts by a federal water project.
But less than a quarter of the reductions in supply were due to
endangered species protections, according to a Congressional
Research Service report. Most were because of the drought.
The signs also don't explain that water cuts affect some farmers
more severely because of the way their contracts are written.
Farmers with the newest contracts are the first to face cutbacks,
said Pete Lucero, spokesman for the agency that runs the federal
water project. That's why farmers on the west side of the San
Joaquin Valley — those most vocal about water cuts — received the
least water during the drought.
Lucero also said farmers seldom get their full allotments of water
because all the contracts add up to more water than exists, even in
years without drought. That's because the water projects were
developed when California had fewer people and the infrastructure
was never completed.
Waymire said that's not the fault of farmers, who are paying for a
system the government didn't finish. He also said it hurts all
Californians because less water leads to higher farm unemployment,
smaller sales tax collections, increased food costs and the possible
demise of the state's agriculture.
A study released this month by the Pacific Institute, a nonpartisan
research organization based in Oakland, found that wasn't
necessarily the case. The state's farms saw their highest gross
revenue on record in 2008, the second year of the drought, with
their third highest in 2009. And, while unemployment increased in
the Central Valley during the drought, job losses were concentrated
in areas other than agriculture, it said.
But the report also found the effect wasn't even, and some counties
saw farm income plummet.
That's why Waymire and Marchini plan to continue putting up signs.
"My greatest fear is running out of water," Marchini said. "Water is
key; without it, you can't do anything."
[Associated
Press; By GOSIA WOZNIACKA]
Gosia Wozniacka can be reached at
http://twitter.com/GosiaWozniacka.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
 |
