By TOM KARST

May 11, 2021

California grower groups applauded the state’s May 10 expansion of emergency drought measures but urged caution in their implementation.

“Governor Newsom took a measured step in the right direction, but caution is needed in implementation of this proclamation,”  Dave Puglia, Western Growers President, and CEO, said in a statement. 

State action

On May 10, California Governor Gavin Newsom significantly expanded his April 21 drought emergency proclamation to include Klamath River, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Tulare Lake Watershed counties. In total, 41 counties are now under a drought state of emergency, representing 30% of the state’s population.

Newsom also proposed a $5.1 billion package of immediate drought response and long-term water resilience investments to address immediate, emergency needs, build regional capacity to endure drought and safeguard water supplies for communities, the economy, and the environment, according to the governor’s office.

 Reaction

Puglia said the declaration provides regulatory flexibility for water transfers to mitigate water shortages, and parallel executive action allocates $200 million to repair some damaged sections of key water delivery systems.

“However, the emergency authority granted to the State Water Board to curtail water deliveries should give all water users pause,” Puglia said in the statement. “Water curtailments disproportionately impact rural and disadvantaged communities. During the last drought from 2014-2016, regulatory restrictions on water deliveries resulted in the fallowing of half a million acres of productive San Joaquin Valley farmland and cost farms nearly $4 billion in economic activity. With many South-of-Delta farmers slated to receive between zero and five percent of their water allocations, 2021 is shaping up to be another catastrophic year for rural farming communities in the Valley.”

Puglia urged state water officials to lead with voluntary transfers and curtailments, which he said would give public and private water agencies the space they need to maximize limited water supplies and achieve a balance between the environmental and economic needs of the state. 

“Beyond the immediate crisis, state agencies must help mitigate the impacts of changing hydrology by removing the red tape that has long prevented meaningful investments in water storage infrastructure,” he said in the statement.

California’s agricultural and rural communities can’t continue to survive without a reliable water resource, Ian LeMay, president of the California Fresh Fruit Association, said in a statement.  “While drought is not an unfamiliar foe to Californians, it should be
acknowledged that this will be the first drought in the era of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), with the circumstances intensified and the solutions more complex,” LeMay said in the statement. “It is the hope of the Association that today’s announcement is a step to address California’s short and long-term water resiliency.”

The governor’s approach is a “positive step,” Federico Barajas, executive director of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, said in a statement.

“The historic drought conditions have negatively impacted nearly 1.2 million acres of farmland, over 2 million people, many of whom live in economically disadvantaged communities, and 200,000 acres of critical habitat and managed wetlands are reliant on the water provided by members of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority.”  

“Years like this only reinforce the need for improved water conveyance and increased water storage – so that water can be moved in the years when it’s available and stored for those years when nature fails to provide adequate water for all of California’s needs,” Barajas said in the statement. 

The realities of a changing climate mean California must prepare for longer, hotter droughts that can only be effectively mitigated through collaborative approaches that “focuses equally on our state’s economic and environmental sustainability,” Tom Birmingham, Westlands Water District general manager said in a statement. 

“We applaud Governor Newsom’s action to mitigate the impacts of a second year of drought in the Central Valley, which has already manifested itself in fallowed fields and lost jobs due to lack of water,” Birmingham said in the statement. “In particular, his move to streamline water transfers and provide $200 million in funding for critical water infrastructure repairs as outlined in Senator Hurtado’s Senate Bill 559 will both help local communities manage drought impacts in the short term and improve drought resiliency by maximizing the beneficial use of every drop of water in the long term. “

Lead photo: (File image)