The idea was dropped after grower Andy Wilson raised objections to the plan saying the reclaimed water contains trace amounts of boron and sodium, which could accumulate in the soil and eventually kill trees. Instead, the city will sponsor a 10- to 15-year UC Riverside study to learn how boron affects trees and fruit.
According to the article, written by David Danelski, UCR soil chemistry professor Christopher Amrhein said Wilson had good reason to be concerned about the city's plan divert fresh water from the Gage and Riverside canals and replace it with the recycled wastewater from the city's sewage treatment plant.
"We basically told (city officials), 'We can't take your reclaimed water,' " Amrhein was quoted.
The city has used UC Davis agricultural engineering professor Mark Grismer as a consultant to counter arguments by UCR citrus experts that recycled water would harm the trees. The city's recycled water project is still in the works. The reclaimed water will be used to irrigate Martha McLean Anza Narrows Park, Fairmont Park and the future Tequesquite Park, and could also be used to recharge aquifers.
Irrigating citrus.
Reports, maps and photos documenting the lively and sometimes contentious history of California water need a new home following UC ANR vice president Dan Dooley's decision to move the collection out of UC Berkeley, the Sacramento Bee reported today.
Director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis and professor of environmental engineering, Jay Lund, said he would like to see the library moved to Sacramento or Davis.
"So long as it's available for people who need to go and do serious in-depth research, the market for that kind of an archive is more in Northern California, with the center of gravity being more around Sacramento," the story quoted Lund, a member of the archive advisory board.
Dooley told Bee reporter Matt Weiser that the decision to move the archive was made to achieve budget savings. The archive's $230,000 annual cost covers the salaries of four full-time employees who manage the library.
A former water attorney, Dooley said he understands the importance of the archive and is confident it will find a home, according to the article. He has called a Nov. 6 meeting of advisers to discuss its future.
"It's clearly a valuable resource and one that we really should make every effort to maintain for future generations," Dooley was quoted.
"The irrigation withdrawals are very clearly what is causing the extremely low flows on both rivers," the article quoted Scott Harding, executive director of Klamath Riverkeeper, a nonprofit watchdog group aimed at restoring the river and its tributaries.
Reporter Dylan Darling turned to UC Cooperative Extension advisors Steve Orloff and Dan Drake for comment on agricultural production in the Shasta and Scott river valleys.
Orloff told the reporter that the high-elevation valleys' short growing season places farmers' focus on producing alfalfa, pasture and small grains. Drake said most of the crops are grown to feed cattle. In the two valleys, there are about 40,000 head of cattle combined.
Erica Terence, a spokeswoman for Klamath Riverkeeper, told the reporter she doesn't want to wait for a dramatic fish kill to prompt changes to water use in the valleys.
"I don't think that means the end of farming," Terence was quoted. "I think that means that farming will look different."
Jim Morris, president of the Siskiyou County Farm Bureau and a member of a family with a 200-year farming history in the area, acknowledged that the river goes dry in years of light rain and snowfall.
"It is a natural process and it just happens," Morris was quoted.
Local farmers and ranchers, he said, have taken steps to improve the efficiency of their irrigation systems - such as shifting from flood irrigation to sprinkler systems.
"We'd like to be around for another 200 years," Morris said.
Shasta River (USFWS photo).
California farmers are known for growing some of the world's finest cotton. Even though, production has been on a steady downward decline since a high of 1.3 million acres in 1979. This year, only about 200,000 acres of California cotton are being cultivated.
The drop can be attributed to a number of factors, according to an article today in AgAlert about the repercussions for the cotton ginning industry. Nearly two-thirds of the cotton gins that operated in California 10 years ago have closed.
Severe water shortages, competition from other countries, high input costs, the worldwide economic crisis are undermining the throne of California's King Cotton.
AgAlert assistant editor Christine Souza spoke to UC Cooperative Extension cotton specialist Bob Hutmacher for the story.
"One of the things that has not helped in the last couple of years is some of the prime production areas for cotton are where we have had these tremendous water limitations," Hutmacher was quoted in the article. "That punched the daylights out of cotton acreage as much or more than anything else."
Hutmacher is director of UC's West Side Research and Extension Center, which sits in the heart of cotton country. Like neighboring farmers, the center received only 10 percent of its normal water allocation this summer and had to tap its deep wells and cut production during the summer to keep research projects on track.
California's long-fiber cottons allow manufacturers to make luxurious high-thread-count linens and soft yet strong t-shirts. But around the world, consumers are keeping their clothing longer and opting for lower-quality cotton products that don't depend so much on California's superior product.
"Part of it is the varieties and part of it is the climate, but one of the things that California still can do better than just about anybody is produce a world-class-quality cotton crop," Hutmacher said.
Third-generation cotton farmer Steve Wilbur of Tulare hasn't given up hope.
"There is a future, we just don't know what it looks like," he was quoted.
Cotton harvest.
An article in USA Today yesterday pinned 30 percent of the blame for California's drought on the federal government. The other 70 percent is assigned to Mother Nature.
Court and regulatory rulings protecting endangered fish have cut water allocations to irrigated agriculture, compounding a natural dry spell, the story said."This is a regulatory drought, is what it is," the story quoted Firebaugh farmer Todd Alen. "It just doesn't seem fair."
UC Davis ag economist Richard Howitt told the reporter that federal regulations hit particularly hard in the Valley because complicated water-rights laws put farmers at the end of the line in water distribution.
"Howitt says his studies suggest that the restrictions could put as much as 45 percent of irrigated acreage in the Fresno area out of production — jacking up prices for melons, broccoli, tomatoes and other produce. The area also is a big producer of almonds, pistachios, lettuce and wheat," wrote reporter William Welch.
Potential solutions - such as more dams or a canal to bypass the delta and bring water to users - are being smothered by the state's budget woes.
Editor's note: I'll be away on vacation for a few days, but will bring you up to date on ANR News when I return next Tuesday.
