California can grow more food AND take less water from the delta

We can do more with less. Nations in drier climates around the world and forward-thinking farmers in California already are using less water to grow more crops – with greater profits. It is time for California to implement economic and environmental policies that encourage farmers to use water more efficiently, both for the good of the environment and to sustain a robust agricultural sector.

The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is in a state of crisis, both as an ecosystem and as a water supply. Almost half of the water used for California’s agriculture comes from rivers that once flowed to the delta, and more than half of Californians rely on water conveyed through the delta for at least some of their water supply. It is imperative that we recognize what both the recent court decisions and the scientists are saying: We’re taking too much water from the delta.

Given that agriculture accounts for about 80 percent of delta water consumption, reducing withdrawals from the delta will inevitably affect farmers. We have two options, two very different paths to reduced agricultural water use. One is to choose to let events evolve as they will, which may lead to growing disruptions in the agricultural sector, uncertainty about the reliability of food production, and the weakening of a vital component of our traditional economy. The other is to work toward a carefully planned and efficient agricultural sector, long-term protections for land and water resources, and the production of more high-valued crops grown with efficient irrigation systems that are effectively managed to respond to weather and crop conditions.

By changing what crops are grown and how we grow them, the report concludes that we can achieve substantial water savings, ranging from 0.6 million to 3.4 million acre-feet of water annually, and for far less than building new, centralized water storage. In fact, if we look at water savings in “dam equivalents,” the scenarios examined in the study could save as much water as three to 20 dams the size of those being proposed.

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Source: San Francisco Chronicle

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