Andrew Nenow is a wine and viticulture sophomore and Mustang Daily conservative columnist.
Over spring break I found myself driving up and down the San Joaquin Valley on the I-5 and U.S. Highway 99 a fair amount. After a while, I started to notice a trend east of Paso Robles.
As rolling hills turned into flat valley and small farms of cattle turned into large orchards, a number of signs along the freeway caught my attention. They read, “Stop the Congress Created Dust Bowl.”
I grew up in Southern California and cannot remember a time when water supply in this state was not a problem. I was always taught to conserve water and told that it was simply a drought due to a lack of rain.
I figured these signs, which were posted approximately every mile along the freeway, were worth looking into. After talking to friends and farmers from the valley, I found Congress was indeed causing a great deal of trouble for California farmers and for hungry people all over the world.
The valley’s main source of water comes from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in Northern California, but after legislation from Congress passed, farmers are having trouble keeping their crops wet. So what could be so important that California’s most important industry can be put in jeopardy and thousands of people be put out of work?
Congress’ answer: a fish. That’s right, due to a reduction in the number of smelt fish, a fish measuring two inches in length, in 2007 Congress deemed it necessary to shut down a great deal of the pumps that send water to the Central Valley.
This legislation also made it impossible for the state to build new dams on the delta and anywhere else in California. So, although California has seen an increase in rainfall in the last two years, millions of gallons of precious water that could be used on farms are being dumped right back into the ocean.
I know, I sound so unethical and insensitive because I do not care about one of Mother Nature’s species. The truth is that in an effort to save the smelt fish, Congress is effectively causing hardship and starvation for a great deal of people. As the farmers put it, Congress is valuing fish over families.
California has long been called the “breadbasket” of the United States, but according to Representative Devin Nunes, California cannot even feed its own people at this point due to the lack of water.
And what about all the food that California sends to other states and even other countries? As a result of water shortages, there is economic trouble for an already struggling state economy, the loss of a significant amount of farms in the valley, hungry people in California, the United States and other countries and tens of thousands of people losing their jobs.
Here are some numbers from Time Magazine and the Poverty and Hunger Organization to put the situation into perspective. Cities like Mendota, Calif. are experiencing an unemployment rate exceeding 40 percent and most cities in the valley are around 20 percent, which is twice the national unemployment rate. Economists predict this means at least 40,000 lost jobs.
Farmers are now only receiving one-sixth of the amount of water they need to sustain their crops during crucial summer months, which has caused agricultural production to drop 20 to 30 percent.
It is difficult for this Californian to understand why Congress cannot offer any sort of relief to the struggling farmers of California. I am no conspiracist, but the actions of Congress make me highly suspicious that an agenda is being worked.
I would hope they are sincerely concerned about a two-inch long fish, and they just don’t realize the obvious effect it is having. It may be my own distrust, but the fact that Senators Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer have their hand in this causes me great worry.
Yes, congress, and particularly Pelosi and Boxer even though the House has more republicans then democrats and the Senate leads with democrats by 4. Could you sound any more irrational? Also, if the southern cities like LA didn’t continue building and sprawling for the last 20 years on land that is desert, there would be plenty of water for agriculture. Instead, we have to pump lots of water down to LA. Meanwhile, in addition to those smelt, the delta keeps growing more and more in salinity each year as fresh water gets pumped out. Deltas tend to be a place for massive amounts of diversity in sea life but we’ve been destroying that by letting sea water encroach further in land. Perhaps some of those numbers you through around about unemployment also happen to be from the economy tanking and the fact California (particularly the northern valley areas like Stockton and Modesto) have some of the worst housing markets in the country. We also have been in drought conditions for years. Luckily we actually got a lot of water this winter, more then has been seen in the past 20 years. 40% of water from the rivers is diverted down south.
1. Your refute is all over the place, I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone respond to and environmental issue with so many “talking-points”. (Blame: republicans, urban sprawl, a bad economy, housing market, and the weather.)
2. Thanks for describing the current party numbers and leadership in Congress- but this Delta smelt issue began in 2008 with an EPA opinion that lead to the fish becoming an endangered species- and I’m pretty sure the author is discussing the leaders that could currently do something to effect a change since Boxer/Pelosi/Feinstein are still the most powerful CA democrats in Congress. (Oh and 2008, 110th Congress, Democrat majority in House and pretty much equal in Senate.)
3. Being from Los Angeles, I can tell you that urban spread is not the reason for the salinity of the Sacramento delta and to assert that is fact-less. LADWP states that almost half our water comes from the Sierra Nevada mountain range and 40 percent is shared between the Colorado Aqueduct (we get water from the Colorado River) and the California Aqueduct (this is the one based in Nor Cal), and the remaining from groundwater in the region. Are you claiming that 20% of Los Angeles’ water use is ruining the Sacramento delta? If so please post that link I’d love to see it’s research cites.
This was a very one sided article made to portray environmentalists as the enemy. It is unfortunate that California is running out of water because of urban sprawl throughout the desert, damming all the rivers, and resource intensive farming but I think listening to the “other side” could be quite beneficial. First off, if everyone in California used rainwater harvesting or planted native and edible gardens instead pointlessly watering green lawns, we could save a lot of this now precious water. Also, killing off the smelt fish, a keystone species, could lead to ecological collapse in the delta and is not a sustainable solution. The Fish vs Farmers argument is quite myopic and only serves as a bandaid on a larger problem. Offering facts from both sides of the issue tends to lead to solutions faster than mudslinging.
You’re reading a Conservative columnist. An op-ed is, as it’s title would suggest, an opinion based article- it’s not called “mudslinging” when it is clearly being identified as one sided before you begin reading. If you want both sides, and I would encourage everyone to read both sides then do some research.
Anybody really interested in understanding this issue should read “Cadillac Desert”, by Marc Reisner.
It’s a huge oversimplification to solely blame California’s drought on Congress. Yes, in 2007 a federal judge decided to cut as much as 30% the water sent south from the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta. All for what? A seemingly pointless fish. But, the government must respect The Endangered Species Act , which prohibits the state from doing anything that jeopardizes the continued existence of endangered or threatened species. Furthermore, by protecting this law, Congress is preventing the destruction of an entire ecosystem that depends upon the smelt.
Additionally, you claimed “[the] legislation also made it impossible for the state to build new dams on the delta and anywhere else in California.” But what you fail to realize is that instead of building dams, California water agencies are now investing the vast majority of their resources in different tools and technologies for water conservation. This is mainly due to the rivers’ “peak water” limits, which prevent construction of dams for reasons as diverse as the water rights of other states, tribal rights, air quality concerns and collapsing fish and wildlife populations.
This drought is the result of years of weather with not enough rain. Weather is the data point and climate is the trend.
You are in colleges and still you lack the research skills to learn about the Salmon who depend on water in the Sacramento River Drainage? You lack the research skills required to use Google and to enter “indicator species” in the text-box?