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Commentary: Desalination—A piece of the water shortage puzzle

Posted by: Maven on April 8, 2009 at 8:06 am

From the California Farm Bureau Federation, this commentary by Eric Larson, executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau:

The search for solutions to California’s chronic water dilemma has focused on conservation, improvements to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, solving conveyance issues and seeking new opportunities for storage. However, if those remedies were all in place today, they would merely secure water for the current needs of a state that has a population of 36 million residents and the most productive farms in the nation. It is essential that in addition to securing the historical sources of water, an extraordinary effort must be made to create new sources of water to keep our growing state prosperous.

Today, many farmers in California find they have insufficient water to produce the crops that keep their businesses thriving, their employees working and their communities alive. At the very same time, millions of the state’s residents who live on the coastal plains not far from the Pacific Ocean must be served by the same over-subscribed source of water. The time has come for California’s farmers to raise their voices in support of desalination as a source of new water.

Desalinated ocean water can’t reach much of our state’s farmland, but every gallon produced by technology is a gallon that doesn’t have to be shared. Coastal communities that can become water independent will not compete with farmers for current water sources or look at farm water transfers as their next increment of supply. While most of the state’s farms are away from the coast, there are many that are imbedded in the coastal urban communities and would benefit directly from this new water.

Read more of this commentary from the California Farm Bureau Federation by clicking here.

April 8, 2009 · Filed Under Desalination

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