Are Enviro’s Trying To Kill Farming In California? 2017 Water Allocations Imply ‘Yes’

Friday, March 24, 2017
By Paul Martin

by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Mar 23, 2017

Several times over the past two months we’ve written about the historic floods that have descended upon California during the 2016-2017 rainy season (see here and here for some examples). In fact, the flooding was so severe that it very nearly caused the complete failure of a major dam in Northern California and resulted in the evacuation of 200,000 residents in neighboring cities (see “Nearly 200,000 People Are Evacuating Over “Imminent Failure” Of California’s Oroville Dam – Live Feeds”).

Needless to say, per the following chart, 2016/2017 was the wettest year that has been recorded in the state of California in decades and likely one of the wettest ever.

And while the flooding had devastating consequences for several Northern California towns, those consequences were, at least, somewhat offset by the state’s sprawling network of canals and reservoirs, on which taxpayers and farmers have spent billions of dollars going back to the early 1900’s, that allow for the quick and easy movement of water around the state for storage purposes.

Moreover, that excess water storage was welcome news to California’s farmers in the Central Valley because it implied that after years of drought, fallowed acreage, economic losses and 0% water allocations from the state and federal water projects, that they might actually get a full allocation for the 2017 crop year and live to fight another day.

Therefore, you can imagine our complete ‘shock’ to learn that, despite record precipitation, California’s Central Valley Water Project has only allotted farmers 65% of their contracted water allocations for 2017. Which, combined with the state’s restrictions on groundwater pumping (the “Sustainable Groundwater Management Act”), will make it almost impossible to economically farm ground in the state of California over the coming years.

The Rest…HERE

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