And if California is to ever truly meet its water needs without further stealing from one region — the Owens Valley, the delta — for the benefit of essentially arid lands, it eventually must reprioritize water usage and regulate crops.
Government long has regulated land use for shopping malls, factories and dumps. Why not also for crops based on their water use? Agriculture claims 80% of the state’s developed water. And 55% of exported delta water goes to two irrigation districts in the San Joaquin Valley.
But “farm production and food processing only generate about 2% of California’s gross state product,” according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
With row crops — vegetables — the land can be fallowed during a drought. Not so with orchards. Almonds especially are water-gulpers and they’ve proliferated to 940,000 acres, mainly in the San Joaquin Valley. One estimate is that it takes more than a gallon of water to grow a single almond.
You also can add pistachios and wine grapes to water-sucking crops that can’t be fallowed. They’re all cool when there’s ample water. When not, some rural folks are forced to haul in their own water for cooking and cleaning. That’s not sustainable politically or socially.
Meanwhile, stop preaching to me about fallowing my little lawn.
http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-cap-drought-20141215-column.html