Response to the State Water Control Board’s Water Quality Control Plan

This project includes the development of additional water that can be used for irrigation and wildlife enhancement purposes and to improve groundwater recharge in the area.

The State Water Resources Control Board has released its Water Quality Control Plan which, if implemented, will cause significant harm to California residents without quantifying any specific environmental benefits. In taking this step, Felicia Marcus, the Board’s Chairwoman noted that San Joaquin River flows have not been updated since 1995. We fully agree it’s time that state […]

Farmers helping fish

There has been considerable conflict lately between water users and fishery managers over the operation of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Biological opinions dating back to 2008 and 2009 have wreaked havoc on water supplies for farms, homes and businesses in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. Between December 1, 2015 and April 4, 2016, […]

NRDC’s “Drought Report Card” Gets an “Incomplete”

NRDC’s “Drought Report Card” Gets an “Incomplete” NRDC’s “Drought Report Card” gets an “incomplete” for using a flawed report as the basis of its poor grade for agriculture. NRDC’s 2014 report, “The Untapped Potential of California’s Water Supply: Efficiency, Reuse, and Stormwater,” cowritten with the Pacific Institute, was used as the basis for its recent […]

Treated recycled water added to farmers’ arsenal of water supplies

(The following is a statement by Mike Wade, Executive Director of the California Farm Water Coalition, in response to the North Valley Regional Recycled Water Program that is planned to deliver treated recycled water to farmers.) SACRAMENTO—“The California Farm Water Coalition applauds the cities of Turlock and Modesto as they celebrate the certification of the […]

It takes water to grow food

Tomatoes

It takes water to grow food Are we really using too much water to grow food in California? The simple fact is that it takes water to grow food no matter where in the world you till the soil. Critics claim that the consumption of California farm products is somehow contributing to the drought. That […]

Many Delta Stressors Impacting Delta Smelt and Delta Health

Delta bass predation

There are far bigger issues affecting the Delta than water exports and returning to a time prior to Western development is unrealistic. To describe the Delta as altered is to say that New York City is populous or California water politics contentious. Since the 19th century when locals began to reclaim the marshlands, dike the […]

Drought Fact Sheet – April 2015

In April of 2015, farms in California had sustained multiple years of severely restricted water supplies, and went unmentioned in a declaration by Governor Brown requiring mandatory conservation among California’s urban water users. Recognizing the significant efforts by agriculture, Governor Brown rebuked attacks that he hadn’t asked enough from California’s farms and rural communities in […]