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Column: Looking into the future of Central Valley’s water usage

Posted by: Maven on June 29, 2009 at 6:59 am

From the Visalia Times-Delta, this column by William Tweed:

For the last several months, like many of you, I have been following the intensifying California “water war” that seems to fill the news reports these days. Lots of folks are hurting, and lots of blame is being thrown around.

Now, it’s my turn to share a few thoughts. As always, when I’m writing this column, I’m pursuing a point of view that takes into account both nature and human history. In other words, if we take an long-term look at what is going on, what can we learn? Attempting to be dispassionate about this, let me propose several truths that we must face.

The first of these is that the amount of water available in the San Joaquin Valley is finite. The Sierra does not produce enough water to meet all our irrigation needs, and we have been supplementing local river flow for many decades with large amounts of pumped ground’water and imported Sacramento River water.

Within the Valley, we use more water than we can sustainably produce. Water leaves the Valley in significant amounts only in occasional wet years. Regionally, we are water consumers, not exporters.

Like it or not, the future is going to see less farm water, not more. Our warming climate is forecast to reduce runoff from the Sierra Nevada. And as we continue to over-pump groundwater, its cost will rise. Eventually, if we stay on the current path, we will run out of groundwater in many areas.

Read more of this column from the Visalia Times-Delta by clicking here.

June 29, 2009 · Filed Under Agriculture, San Joaquin Valley

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