CA water story

[gusbuster]

Originally Posted by Wet_Boots

I wonder how much drip irrigation is used in CA agriculture. I think they could get more bang for the buck out there.

In a vineyard and orchard setting, specially the newer acreage introduced in the last 15 years, a form of low volume or drip is used as it would be impractical to use flood or spraying (impact sprinklers) due to slopes\grade especially when you see farming being done close or on mountain ranges.

In flatter area, flooding via v ditches or irrigation by rolling impact sprinkler or portable galvanized pipe is used for row crops such as corn, cotton, tomatoes, ect.....

John

[gusbuster]

Originally Posted by 1idejim

the fisheries have been going to pot since they built the diversion dam on the sacramento river in the 60's. when i was growing up the salmon were counted in the thousands daily and steelhead were aplenty. last year i think 1 steelhead was counted, it's sad to say the least.

it's blind statements like this one that put farmers against fish, farmers against city folks ect....

The simple truth is man and our intrusion into the cycle.

Our fisheries were never meant to be pressured by the techniques used by modern fishing boats.

Climate change is another contributing factor.

Man building where man wasn't before. Heck, look at all the building being done in such old sierra towns such as Jackson, Angels Camp, Sutters Creek, heck even The big Blue Lake of Lake Tahoe.

Farming has been around a lot longer than many and I mean many cities that exist today. Have you seen Cities like Stockton, Fresno, Bakersfield how big they have gotten? Many of these places, areas that I remember as farm land and dove hunting areas are now homes. Heck, even San Jose use to be all Peach and Cherry groves. What are they now?

There plenty of blame to go around. Trying to pin it on one source of the problem doesn't do anything to correct the problem in the first place. People seem to forget that genraly speaking, CA is an arid state in the first place.

John

[gusbuster]

[QUOTE=esnipe8;3193412]

Originally Posted by FIMCO-MEISTER

So I watched Sean Hannity last night. The story was one sided and the smelt was the boogeyman. But he interviewed a guy named Zeke Grader of the CA Fisherman's Assoc. He says the water that was allocated for the Frsno area was sold by the Corporations further south. I'm guessing to LA and is being used to water lawns and landscapes. He also said without the smelt the Salmon fisheries get killed.
I'm studying this map of CA to see where Eureka and the water is. I see that water comes out of the mountains east of the valley. I guess this is depleted.

I'm really torn on this. The last thing I want is my food coming from overseas. It gets picked to early and they do weird stuff to it to get it ripened for grocery.

If the landowners really did sell off their water provisions is that the fault of N. CA fishermen. Is the valley trying to have its cake and eat it too? There is no way to release water without affecting the smelt? Is this water being pumped over mountains? I'm wondering if secretly a state with budget problems can't afford the energy needed to pump the water south. So they play to the farmers but aren't really trying to get the water turned on for budget reasons.

I don't want this thread to turn into a bitter partisan battle but I'm just curious as to the story behind the story.[/QUOTE

Most farmers were only allocated 3% of their water needs. You can not run you farming business when you are short 97% of needed water.
The farmers who are not able to farm on their 3% choose to sell the water, rather than letting it go to waste.

I am following this story semi close, because I am from Fresno/Central Valley.

It has become political because the politicians, are the ones who are in control of the water distribution.

This is really no joke what is going on. All of you who enjoy fresh fruit and veggies grown in America, just wait. When most of our fruit is being imported from China or South America, who obviously do not have the same safety, labor and ethical standards, people will begin to wake up.

We can not conserve our way out of this problem. California's population has grown leaps and bounds, but our above water storage and conveyance is still the same from decades ago.

Just my opinion

Not so much so in your area is this a true statement since most of the water for this area comes from the watersheds south of Yosemite, though this is the problem, the decrease flow because the big pumps by me have been shut down drastically because they were killing the smelt that are endangered. Hence the areas more east of you such places as Lemoore, Avanal ect... are not getting the water that they use to get from the Ca aqueduct. Then I know river flows for the San Jauquin river doesn't help either.

[gusbuster]

Originally Posted by Wet_Boots

I remember there was a selenium pollution problem in California's central valley, from ground water pumped away from irrigated fields. The water was being pumped away because it was harmful to the roots of growing crops.

Selenium is a natural occurring compound in soil, just like Anthrax. The problem was that the Selenium was so concentrated in the soil, when the farmers would irrigate their Fields using flood techniques, leaching would occur,the excess water would eventually find it's way through the various surrounding rivers and into the ocean. This was true in the Los Banos area where many places to the east of town are natural occurring swamp lands. This area is part of the Pacific Coast flyway for waterfowl. Ducks would stop in the local refuge and stay. Because of the high Selenium concentration in the water, birth defects would occur in the ducks. This has been pretty much corrected now due to efforts by Ducks Unlimited, Ca and Fed EPA and of course, local farmers.

Most of the cost was born by people who buy food and of course, us tax payers.

[1idejim]

john,

my comment about the dam was more of an observation than anything.

the fish count was printed daily in the local newspaper.

i won't make any further comments on this issue as until the ladder was installed i don't think a better or more accurate method of counting the fish was available.

btw the salmon spawning canal splits the alfalfa fields from the pasture on my brother in laws ranch.

can't remember the last time it had water in it.

jim

[Wet_Boots]

Originally Posted by gusbuster

Selenium is a natural occurring compound in soil, just like Anthrax. The problem was that the Selenium was so concentrated in the soil, when the farmers would irrigate their Fields using flood techniques, leaching would occur,the excess water would eventually find it's way through the various surrounding rivers and into the ocean. This was true in the Los Banos area where many places to the east of town are natural occurring swamp lands. This area is part of the Pacific Coast flyway for waterfowl. Ducks would stop in the local refuge and stay. Because of the high Selenium concentration in the water, birth defects would occur in the ducks. This has been pretty much corrected now due to efforts by Ducks Unlimited, Ca and Fed EPA and of course, local farmers.

Most of the cost was born by people who buy food and of course, us tax payers.

I had assumed those particular farms were using flood irrigation, and might have turned towards drip as a way to not have so much water to pump away. Weird how they had to first cope with the birth-defects problem by chasing birds out of the wetlands, so they wouldn't nest, and come to harm.

[Kiril]

Originally Posted by Wet_Boots

I had assumed those particular farms were using flood irrigation, and might have turned towards drip as a way to not have so much water to pump away.

$$$$$

Easier said than done.

[Wet_Boots]

Hey, as long as you can dump your pollution onto the public at large, what's to worry about?

[Kiril]

Originally Posted by Wet_Boots

Hey, as long as you can dump your pollution onto the public at large, what's to worry about?

Oh, it gets worse.

http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/p1646/

[Mike Leary]

I believe it was last year that they had the worst salmon run in history on the Sacramento; fishing was curtailed and it affected fishermen all the way up the coast.