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Comstocks Magazine’s special report on California water

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on December 5, 2009 at 7:55 am

This month’s Comstock’s Magazine again covers California water issues with these four stories:

What’s to Fallow: After years of drought, the legislature’s historic water deal is just the beginning

“This is the final story in a four-part series on water. This month, we’ll wrap up by examining upcoming issues in 2010. Past installments of this series have explored water issues ranging from storage, conservation and desalination, to impacts of a peripheral canal on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Mark Twain once said that, in the West, “Whiskey is for drinking. Water is for fighting over.” For decades, California has been the living embodiment of Twain’s observation. Now, after two-plus years of contentious posturing and political bloodletting, California lawmakers have finally agreed on a multibillion-dollar plan to overhaul the state’s outdated water system. But while reformers have claimed victory in the biggest water battle to date, the real war — convincing voters to pay for it — is just getting started.

This won’t be an easy sale. Deep-seeded regional rivalries and powerful philosophical differences have always enveloped the state’s water policies. As Valerie Nera, a water policy advocate for the California Chamber of Commerce, notes, “Everybody thinks their priorities are more important than everyone else’s.” In spite of the bipartisan support, the $11.1 billion overhaul package from lawmakers in November does little to abate that perspective. … “

Read more of this article from Comstock’s Magazine by clicking here.

Tule Story: Researchers examine tule reeds and rice fields in the Delta

“On Twitchell Island, near the Delta town of Isleton, tules covering 15 acres grow twice as tall as the average man. A gravel road separates the wetlands from a cornfield, sunken 25 feet at its lowest point. Every year, the wetlands’ soil rises a few inches, while the cornfield sinks. The discovery that tules increase land elevation in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is fueling a joint experiment conducted by the state Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Geological Survey, along with UC Davis researchers, other universities and private consultants.

The state began the tule pilot project in 1997 in an effort to protect its water supply. The 738,000-acre Delta is the hub of the state’s water system, providing water to about two-thirds of the state’s 38 million residents. Here, the freshwater from rivers mixes with salt water from the Pacific Ocean, forming the largest estuary on the West Coast. Its 700 miles of channels and sloughs are protected by 1,100 miles of levees. When settlers began building the levees in the mid-1800s, they drained the land and exposed the carbon-rich peat soil to oxygen, causing it to vaporize. As the land sinks, water pressure on the levees increases, making them vulnerable to collapse. A catastrophic failure would flood the Delta with salt water, interrupting water deliveries statewide. … “

Read more of this story from Comstock’s Magazine by clicking here.

Farmer in the Well: A few years of drought could end more than a century of crops for one Central Valley family

“In 2008, Bill Koster had his best year in three and a half decades of farming. Commodity prices hit record highs, his expenses were low and water allocation was enough to yield a decent crop, even though it was less than half his contracted amount.

Less than a year later, 80 percent of his land lies barren. He estimates he’ll lose nearly $300,000 in revenue based on crops he can’t plant and wonders if his fourth-generation family farm will be producing anything next year.

“We had a tremendous year last year,” says Koster, who owns A. & B. Koster ranch with his brother, Andrew Koster. “(I’m) almost broke right now, not even 12 months later. I mean it’s feast or famine.” … “

Read more of this article from Comstock’s Magazine by clicking here.

Smelt Suit: Water users take their case to the courts

“For nearly three decades, Westlands Water District received almost 100 percent of its water allocation from the federal Central Valley Project. Water allocations began to decrease in 1992, thanks to environmental legislation, but there was still enough to grow crops and make a living. However, in February the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees the Central Valley Project, announced farmers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta would receive no water. In the end, residents received a drastically reduced amount.

Westlands, which receives all of its water from the CVP, serves about 50,000 people in western Fresno and Kings counties, most of whom depend on agriculture. In March, Westlands and the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, an organization that represents CVP water users and of which Westlands is a member, sued the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. … “

Read more of this story by Comstock’s Magazine by clicking here.

For more stories on California water from Comstock’s Magazine, click here.

December 5, 2009 · Filed Under General Water Issues

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