Opposition to California Drought Legislation is Misleading

Opposition to H.R. 5781 is Misleading H.R. 5781, Congressman David Valadao’s drought relief bill requires water exports to stay within the existing salmon and Delta smelt biological opinions. Concerns raised by NRDC’s Doug Obegi are a red herring to thwart progress on providing water to a parched Central Valley. Exports may increase, as Obegi says, […]

STATEMENT: Water allocation is good news; but does not end drought or restrictive regulations

Water Allocation is Good News, But Doesn’t End Drought The following is a statement by Executive Director Mike Wade of the California Farm Water Coalition in response to the DWR announcement of 10 percent water allocation from the State Water Project.) “Today’s announcement that the State Water Project will deliver an initial allocation of 10 […]

California groundwater pumping impacts preventable

CBS News recently focused on the impacts of groundwater pumping in California, but the causes were avoidable. Improving the reliability of surface water to avoid extracting groundwater from aquifers was a primary goal of California’s water projects. The reality is, California groundwater overdraft impacts were preventable. We applaud 60 Minutes for discussing the important issue […]

Westlands Water District: Straight Talk About Agriculture, Saving Water and Drainage

The Los Angeles Times recently published an intensely critical article about  Westlands Water District, which recited many of the false, misleading, or outdated claims made by some of its critics over the years. The Times’ editors refused to print an Op-Ed that the District offered in response. As a result the District has taken out […]

Farming accounts for 40.8% of state’s water demand

Farms account for 40.8 percent of California’s water demand according to the California Water Plan (Bulletin 160-13). Farmers are often mischaracterized as using 80 percent of the state’s water supply, but that’s simply not true, based off of numbers published by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR). The largest water user in California is […]

UC study provides look at consequences from water shortages

california drought

Below is a statement by Mike Wade, Executive Director of the California Farm Water Coalition.   An updated study released today by the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences provides a glimpse of the consequences of water supply shortages for the state of California. These effects will […]