A sign protests the Congress-enacted reduction of water brought to farmland from the delta.
California is in the midst of it’s most severe water shortage in decades. Brought on by a perfect storm of nature, politics, and just plain bad luck the drought has brought the once-fertile central valley to it’s knees. The numbers are staggering, the California Department of Water Resources estimates that by the end of 2009*:
- Central Valley farm revenue loss is estimated to range between $325 million and $477 million.
- Total income losses to those directly involved in crop production
and to those in businesses related to crop production is estimated
to range between $440 and $644 million. - The associated total employment loss is estimated to be between
16,200 and 23,700 full-time equivalent jobs, with the majority of
jobs lost in the lowest paying categories. - Groundwater pumping cost increases are expected to range between $153 million and $165 million.
Two political issues have only exacerbated the crisis; one is the curtailing of water being pumped from the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta due to the process of the input pipes sucking in the endangered local Delta Smelt, a small silver fish. Until the problem is solved, and a way is found to bypass the Delta as water travels from it’s Shasta Lake source to the agricultural capitol of the United States, the pumping will remain on hold. The other political hangup is an ongoing debate in the state senate over a proposed $12 billion dollar bond measure for infrastructure improvements such as new dams along the Delta. Additionally, the Republican Party recent capitalized on this struggle, impacting most seriously the immigrant population working in the Central Valley, by appealing to their anti-environmental sentiment. The registered Republican voter numbers have skyrocketed.
As of this writing the debate continues, and the central valley continues to dry.
