Dire Water Conditions for California (Feb. 2009) PDF Print

Knowing of your interest in water policy, I want to inform you of very strong concerns I have regarding the current water situation in our state.  Although we have received some relief with the recent precipitation these past few weeks, we still remain in the midst of a three year, statewide drought.  With the release of the Bureau of Reclamation's Water Year (WY) '09 allocations last week, many of our agricultural water users will receive no water under the current conditions.  Given the enormous role that agriculture plays in our area and particularly the high amount of permanent and other high-value crops, I am greatly troubled by this news.

I have contacted the Bureau of Reclamation concerning this issue and I will continue to do everything I can in the short term to makes these allocations more equitable with respect to all agricultural water users.  In addition, this situation is precisely why I have long advocated the need for additional water storage in our Northern California area and throughout the state.  I strongly feel that we should take every available opportunity to expand surface water storage and in turn provide additional benefits such as flood control, recreation, and hydroelectric power generation.  In doing so, we will help to provide safeguards against future drought conditions.