Water Education Foundation
This is just one post in the Drought, Weather & Snowpack Category
Click here to view all posts

Conditions deteriorating in west Valley towns; Drought, unemployment take a toll on many small communities

Posted by: Maven on March 27, 2009 at 6:21 am

From the Fresno Bee:

The customer seemed interested in a black blouse offered for $1 at the thrift store. But instead of buying it, she set it on the front counter. Maybe tomorrow, she told the cashier, she would have the money. Or the next day. But not now. “That is the way people are now,” said the cashier, Alicia Reyes, as she watched the middle-aged woman walk out of the store. “They just come in here and look. They just come in here to kill the time. And then they take off.”

Welcome to life in Mendota – the unemployment capital of California. With a 41% jobless rate, the town’s social fabric is tearing at the seams. Alcoholism and crime are on the rise. To save money, some mothers wash and re-use disposable diapers. Unemployed men with nothing to do wander the streets and sit on benches.

The irony is obvious: In a large swath of the nation’s most productive farming region, many struggle to fill their own cupboards.

During this third year of drought, farmers on the west side are fallowing hundreds of thousands of acres and hiring fewer than half the workers they did two years ago. They blame the dry weather and federal environmental laws – meant to protect endangered species of fish – that have severely restricted how much water can flow into the west side.

With the prospect of more water shortages in the future, many farmers are shifting toward less water-dependent crops that don’t require as many workers. That could prove devastating to hundreds, if not thousands, of families in west-side towns who have always depended on agriculture jobs.

Read more from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.

March 27, 2009 · Filed Under Agriculture, Drought, Weather & Snowpack

Comments

Leave a Reply