Lloyd_Carter's blog

A view of the future? Salts evaporated from agricultural drainage water in the Western San Joaquin Valley accumulates in huge evaporation ponds near Kettleman City in western Fresno County near Interstate 5. Millions of pounds of salts, heavy metals and trace elements are accumulating annually in thousands of acres of evaporation ponds in the western valley. These lands are essentially ruined for all future uses, as is the groundwater below the ponds. The photo was taken in October 2008.

Water activist Dan Bacher smells a rat in the latest announcement by the California Department of Water Resources.

State Uses Announcement of Proposed Water Cuts to Push Canal and Dams

By Dan Bacher

The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) Thursday (Oct. 30) used a news conference announcing proposed drastic cuts of State Water Project (SWP) deliveries to agribusiness and cities as yet another opportunity to push for a peripheral canal and more dams.

Miracle of miracles, it appears the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board has developed a conscience over the agricultural waste water disposal problem that has been festering in the Western San Joaquin Valley for half a century. We shall see what develops. To learn more CLICK HERE

California is a sadder place this week because of the loss of Water Warrior Dorothy Green, who died at her home in Los Angeles on October 13 following a long and courageous bout with cancer. I was privileged to serve on the board of directors of the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN) with Dorothy, who co-founded C-WIN and also founded "Heal the Bay" in Southern California. These were only two of her many accomplishments.

"Flow", the award-winning documentary about the world water crisis and an official selection of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, is now showing in theaters nationwide, including San Francisco, Berkeley and Palm Springs. It also has a website, www.flowtheflim.com

Below are some of the startling facts from the film's website:

Heal the Bay has released its 2008 report card on the state of California's beaches. To read more, CLICK HERE

The San Jose Mercury-News is reporting that a Northern California Indian tribe fears losing their ancestral and ceremonial grounds if a plan to raise Shasta Dam, backed by the Westlands Water District, is approved. To read more, CLICK HERE

C-WIN Board president Carolee Krieger had a letter to the editor in the
Fresno Bee on Sept. 23. To read it, CLICK HERE

As GeorgeW. Bush pushes Congress to bail out Wall Street corporations, he refuses to immediately release $70 million out of the $170 million appropriated by Congress for disaster relief to West Coast salmon fishermen and businesses impacted by this year's salmon closures. Dan Bacher reports.

It seems we're not the only ones advocating water conservation in agriculture as a way to reduce demand on California's limited supplies. The San Francisco Chronicle thinks so too.