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Rally for water rights hits downtown Fresno

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 2, 2009 at 8:00 am

From the Fresno Bee:

Ron Schafer and Alice Powlick aren’t farmers or farmworkers. They are middle-school teachers who came to Wednesday’s water rally in downtown Fresno on behalf of their students. The teachers joined several thousand who jammed the front of City Hall to plead with the state and federal governments to provide the Valley with more irrigation water. Mike Lukens, city of Fresno spokesman, estimated the crowd at between 3,500 to 4,000 at its peak.

More than a dozen speakers, including Congressmen Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, and George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, blamed environmental protections along with a third dry year for the shortage of water for Valley farmers.

Schafer and Powlick say they see the ripple effects of the drought in their southeast Fresno classrooms. “We hear the students talk about their parents being out work because of the drought,” Schafer said. “And it is hard for them.”

Read more from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.

From Stockton’s Record:

“Water makes the difference between the Garden of Eden and Death Valley,” said comedian Paul Rodriguez, who acts as a spokesman for the Latino Water Coalition, a group lobbying for changes in water delivery policy regarding the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The noon rally was organized by the grower-funded group, which also organized an April march from Mendota to the San Luis Reservoir hoping to draw national attention to the issue.

On Wednesday, nearly 4,000 people carrying professionally printed signs proclaiming, “No water, no jobs, no hope, no future,” marched through downtown. One man who declined to give us name said his Kettleman City employer had driven him and other workers there and were paying them for their time. Another woman said she came with 50 other employees of a Tulare agriculture contractor for free, to protect their jobs.

Speakers stressed the importance of San Joaquin Valley agriculture, which they said produces more than half of the domestically grown U.S. food supply. “If you like foreign oil, you’ll love foreign food,” some signs read.

More from The Record by clicking here.

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July 2, 2009 · Filed Under Agriculture, Drought, Weather & Snowpack

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