Farmers hit with unexpected water cutbacks

Issue Date: June 11, 2008

By Kate Campbell
Assistant Editor

Westside processing tomato farmers Jim and Tod Diedrich walk their fields near Mendota trying to figure how to keep their crop alive with very limited water or whether to just let it die.

Federal officials told hundreds of San Joaquin Valley farmers last week that they will get even less irrigation water this year than they had planned. Deliveries are being cut to 40 percent of contract amount from the 45 percent declared earlier in the year.

The reductions affect farm customers of the federal Central Valley Project in both the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys.

The sobering news caught many who farm on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley by surprise. They had planted crops based on the percentage of contract amount announced by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation earlier this spring.

This additional cutback, which has never before occurred so late in a crop year, was explained during a congressional briefing in Los Banos. Hosted by Congressmen Jim Costa, D-Fresno, and George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, the event drew hundreds of farmers, water district representatives and officials from all levels of government, including state Food and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura, as well as members of the press.

Riverdale farmer Mark Borba, who relies on water from the Westlands Water District, said crops produced within the district, like almonds, tomatoes and cotton, will suffer.

"Yields will fall, quality will decline, fields will be abandoned, trees may die and unemployment will skyrocket," he said.

"This unexpected cutback comes at the time of highest demand for water. In the next three months, our crops will be facing triple-digit temperatures and yet we'll have a third less water to work with.

"For us, every day is another day lost in solving this problem," Borba said. "What we don't need from Sacramento is more talk about studies and alternatives and a laborious approval process. Our crops are dying."

Processing tomato grower Jim Diedrich, a Westside farmer who relies on federal water deliveries, said after the meeting that there was a lack of specific detail in the information presented at the briefing.

"That's a concern because they keep talking about getting a little more water here and there, but we have less than a week to figure out what's going on, if we'll get a little more or have to let 1,000 acres of tomatoes go.

"We already have $1.2 million invested in establishing the crop and getting it to this point. Based on what they're saying today, we may only be able to save 200 of those acres."

Diedrich said he has taken a number of steps in recent years to reduce water use and better manage irrigation.

"We put in drip systems, so now, instead of using 3.5 acre-feet of water, we're down to 2.1," he said. "But there's no way we can make up through water management techniques for the kind of cuts they're talking about. And, there's no groundwater where we are so that's not an option.

"We need water today, but an even bigger concern is that they also aren't talking about what we're going to do next year. Based on what I heard today, I'm not too eager to rush out and put a million dollars in the ground next year.

"I just hope if we have a problem with water supplies next year that they'll come out and say so sooner," he said. "That way we'll know early?before we get a crop planted."

Diedrich's son Tod said, "We've already told three-quarters of our workers to go home. We shut down the water meters. We've tried to keep on the employees who've been with us the longest and the ones with families, but it's possible in a week there won't be any water so there won't be any work.

"We'll have to save what we can by ourselves?me, my dad, my kids and a foreman. We'll focus on trying to save our almond trees. That's the only way I can see to survive."

The day following the briefing, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a statewide drought (see story on Page 18). The Westlands Water District, which operates in the western San Joaquin Valley, said in a prepared statement, "We are hopeful that the governor's announcement will help get more water to the crops, but much more needs to be done to address the human and social costs of this water crisis."

Westlands officials said the district now is conducting a survey of its growers to determine the extent of its losses. Although the results are still coming in, Westlands said it's apparent that millions of dollars worth of tomatoes, melons, onions and other produce are at risk of being abandoned because there isn't enough water to sustain them.

"In the next few weeks, we expect to have a more complete analysis of the potential impact these water cutbacks will have on the state's economy and on the people who live and work in the valley," said Sarah Woolf, a spokeswoman for the district.

She said the situation the district faces is unprecedented, "but it's a perfect illustration of the extreme vulnerability of the water system as a whole to a changing environment, judicial decrees and a flawed delivery system that is long overdue for improvement."

In opening the briefing last week in Los Banos, Costa said the challenge facing San Joaquin Valley farmers and communities includes a combination of factors.

"That includes below-average rainfall. The last three months are the lowest in recorded history," he said. "Combine that with previous below-average water years and the limitations placed on us by a state water system designed for 20 million people that has to serve 37 million people today and you start to see the problem.

"We've managed to stretch that thin water supply, but we've reached the limits. We have problems in the delta, judicial decisions that impact our ability to comply with the Endangered Species Act. This is the perfect storm."

But, Costa stressed that all of these issues notwithstanding, political leaders at the state and federal levels have not been able to provide the increase in water supply that Californians need.

Underscoring to the congressmen the urgency of the problem, Westlands Water District General Manager Tom Birmingham said, "Half the people in this room are going to go broke. This is a crisis that has to be fixed now."

Westlands, which covers 600,000 acres, accounts for more than $1 billion in agricultural production, about 20 percent of the total farm production for Fresno County, the nation's No. 1 farm county.

"Something has been unleashed that we can't get our arms around," said Mike Houlding, a Cantua Creek grower. He said the sharp reduction in water supplies comes on top of skyrocketing fertilizer and fuel costs.

Radanovich said that while the current water crisis is painful and he's tired of agriculture bearing the brunt of an antiquated delivery system, if there's any good in the situation, it's the whole state is going to feel the pinch of this water shortage.

"That will help us to do what we have to do?get a conveyance system through or around the delta and more surface storage, such as the proposed Temperance Flat reservoir," Radanovich said. "It's the only thing that's going to get us out of this. It has gotten to the point where we can no longer live like this."

Earlier this month, residents in Alameda and Contra Costa counties were required to reduce water use by 19 percent after the East Bay Municipal Utility District imposed water rationing. Golf course managers were required to cut water use by 30 percent.

In some Southern California communities, residents have been advised they will be fined $100 for watering lawns and landscape during the day. The fine goes to $300 for repeat offenses.

Fresno County Supervisor Phil Larson, who also is a former Fresno County Farm Bureau president, said the crisis is extending beyond farms and pointed out that it will affect small businesses that rely on farming and the jobs they provide.

"In Fresno County, we are going to be devastated if this water crisis continues," Larson said. "People are going to be out of jobs and broke."

Although farmers and water district leaders pressed for specifics on how much water the bureau would be able to deliver, none of the officials could give a specific number on the amount of water that actually will be available through the end of the crop year.

The State Water Project (SWP) also is scrambling to meet its south-of-delta demands, officials said. The state is dealing with the worst projected Oroville carryover storage since 1977. SWP operators intend to minimize moving Oroville water south by maximizing the use of water stored in the San Luis Reservoir. This will leave no opportunity for the CVP, which shares the reservoir, to borrow SWP storage at the low point.

Chris Hurd, who farms about 30 miles south of Los Banos and grows tomatoes and other row crops using drip irrigation, said he's trying to come to grips with what the cuts will mean to his operation.

"The real problem is that even with the rationing, the bureau may not be able to physically get the water to us," Hurd said. "I have trees, permanent crops that I'm having to decide about turning the water off because there won't be enough water to go around."

Gustine farmer Steve Bell said, "What concerns me is the bureau is doing the best they can, but they don't seem to know exactly how much water they really have. That worries me a lot.

"We're going to get this by fallowing some ground and putting in a couple more small wells to keep things going. Out of about 400 acres, we're going to have to let 50 acres go. That's not a lot considering what some people will lose, but it matters to us."

(Kate Campbell is a reporter for Ag Alert. She may be contacted at kcampbell@cfbf.com.)

Permission for use is granted, however, credit must be made to the California Farm Bureau Federation when reprinting this item. Top