Counterspin - The Water Crisis is Real

By Phil Hayworth

Pioneer Press

Fort Jones , CA

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

page #E36, column  1

pioneerp@sisqtel.net
 

For the first time since 1991, California last week declared a state of emergency regarding water. Fresno declared one before that and cities, counties and irrigation districts around the state were already cutting back when the Governor made his declaration. We are, indeed, in the middle of a Western water crises. That was the title of a discussion at a forum last week in Modoc County . While Modoc officials balked at the idea of having hippie "outsiders" come into their county and tell them what to do, the people who attended the forum last week seemed mighty happy to be talking about solutions, not just problems.

We're lucky here in Klamath. We've still got lots of water. But Californians are getting it good. And, folks, let me tell you: we have a major problem. Perhaps it's only time before Klamath feels the effects of California 's problems.

Gov. Schwarzenegger warned residents and water managers last week that they must immediately cut their water use or face the possibility of rationing next year if there is another dry winter. He signed an executive order saying that unusually dry conditions are damaging crops, harming water quality and causing extreme fire danger across California .

The biggest problem seems to be in the Central and South state. For example, federal officials told hundreds of farmers in the Westlands Water District near Los Banos last week that they will get even less irrigation water -- just days after the district announced a rationing plan. The Westlands is the nation's largest federal water district. They will be hit hard - and many said they expect to abandon crops or even go out of business for lack of water.

As a result of the extremely dry spring, implementation of the court-ordered Delta Smelt restrictions and other environmental restrictions on Central Valley Project (that's the Shasta and Trinity Dams) operations related primarily to conserving cold water in upstream storage for the benefit of the Endangered Species Act-listed winter run salmon, it is anticipated that pumping out of the San Joaquin-Stockton-Sacramento Delta will be at minimum capacity during June and at 80 percent during July and August. The State Water Project (SWP) - which includes Oroville in Butte County about 100 miles north of Sacramento -- is also scrambling to meet its south-of-delta demands - specifically, water-starved Los Angeles -- while dealing with the worst projected carryover storage from Lake Oroville since 1977.

Meanwhile, here in the great North State of California, things aren't a whole lot better.

A federal judge last week threatened to cut irrigation water on more than 150,000 acres of farmland on the western side of the Mid-Valley near Red Bluff. Only our problems this far north aren't really due to a lack of water, but a lack of brains - specifically, some eco-nutjobs who value fish over food. Last week, U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger proposed the possibility of further water diversion cutbacks to farms and cities in Northern California to protect endangered fish populations. If the judge rules that the endangered fish need immediate protection, part of his ruling could include ordering the gates of the Red Bluff Diversion Dam to be opened immediately.

The gates of the dam are closed for four months each year to divert Sacramento River water to crops in four Mid-Valley counties in 18 water districts in Colusa, Tehama, Glenn and parts of Yolo counties. That's a lot of food, my friend.

So why in the world would we bottle and sell Mt. Shasta water to the world when we need the stuff right here? Dan Webster wrote a story in this week's Pioneer Press warning of the predatory nature of the Nestle company, which is trying to rob the citizens of McCloud blind by seducing them to sell their water rights for pennies. In exchange, Nestle will make billions and the people of Siskiyou County will get the shaft - a dry aquifer, that is. Think about it.

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