Farmworkers rally for water solutions

SACRAMENTO– With farmers fallowing their fields and abandoning their crops due to water shortages, farmworkers and their families are feeling the domino effects of the state’s drought as they find themselves without work or getting smaller paychecks.

Hundreds of them descended on the state Capitol to urge lawmakers to do something about the current water crisis. Waving signs in Spanish and English that said “Water Means Jobs,” “Fix the Delta,” and “Water Is Food,” most of them came from the parched San Joaquin Valley, where reduced water deliveries have forced some farmers to cut their work force and lay off employees.

The July 23 rally was organized by the California Latino Water Coalition, which supports a $9.3 billion water bond proposal that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein unveiled last month. The plan calls for new water storage, conservation, improved conveyance and other updates to the state’s water system.

Joining other legislative and community leaders on the Capitol steps, the governor told the farmworkers that their voices are being heard “loud and clear.”

“Every one of us knows how important water is to everything that we do in California,” Schwarzenegger said. “This is why it is important that we work and fight for water for our farms, for our families, for our environment, for our future, for our developments, for our businesses and the list goes on and on and on.”

California’s current water system is no longer working, he added, and the state has not been able to provide an adequate water infrastructure. Two consecutive dry years and court-ordered restrictions on water pumping in the delta have caused the state’s reservoirs to be 50 percent to 75 percent lower than they should be, he said.

“Our farmers are cutting back and letting fields sit empty because they can’t guarantee adequate water,” said Schwarzenegger. “Developments can’t move forward, prices are going up on water and we are now water rationing all over the state of California.”

Water shortages have also damaged the state’s economy. Whole communities have suffered because of lack of irrigation water for Central Valley farms. Crop losses totaled $245 million as of July 11, with Fresno County suffering the largest amount at $73.5 million and Kern County at $69.5 million, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

Read full article

Source: California Farm Bureau Federation

For more information on water conservation, visit www.nuprana.com