Many economic sacrifices have been made to save one species of fish, but we may be damaging the environment in that process. Farmers are presumably pumping much of our precious groundwater to replace surface water they have lost through environmental regulations. Those liquid natural resources under the ground are disappearing quickly, and the Delta smelt populations are not improving either.
According to NASA and University of California at Irvine researchers, the Central Valley pumped approximately 24 million acre feet of groundwater from October 2003 through March 2009. That's almost 8 trillion gallons, or enough water to fill Lake Mead.
That's three times more being depleted than previous estimates by the Department of Water Resources.
This over-drafting of groundwater coincides with reductions in the amount of surface water that's been available, with 2009 being the most severe, with only 10 percent delivered to West Side farms.
Consequently, there are subsidence problems, with some ground visibly sinking. The state Board of Food and Agriculture reported incidents that have "caused water-conveyance infrastructure to buckle and drop, impacting its capacity."
That means getting surface water may be more problematic, if not impossible, with broken aqueducts and pipelines.
Groundwater quality also diminishes as less remains, making well water more costly and toxic for plants and humans. And we have less water stored in underground aquifers which could have been used for future needs.
Agriculture in this valley usually requires irrigation, but it is not responsible for all the groundwater overdrafting. We have more ranchettes with wells, and municipalities are using more groundwater for sprawling urban development. Even the Interior Department is drilling and retrofitting some 100 wells with $40 million in stimulus funding, adding yet more straws siphoning underground supplies.
Irrigation water replenishes aquifers, just as rain and snow do, although there can be leeching of fertilizers and pesticides.
On the other hand, urban residents create wastewater that has to be treated and then goes into the rivers and eventually to the Delta.
But it doesn't seem as though urban users and predatory fish are scrutinized or penalized like West Side farmers, who have been losing virtually all their surface water.
Notwithstanding a wet winter, farmers are worried. For 50 years they were given a reliable water supply from the Sierra. That enabled most farmers to pump less groundwater. Must agriculture go back to relying on wells and dry farming, like the early 1900s? Our groundwater is shrinking and must be shared by many. That's why well monitoring will be included in new water legislation. Groundwater will be strictly regulated too, by those same bureaucrats who deny farmers surface water on the West Side.
Older and wiser valley visionaries understood that surface water saves groundwater and produces food, so they smartly plumbed a whole new irrigation system from scratch for that purpose. We inherited that wonderful surface water system, which needs only some minor additions and improvements.
Our commitment to what should be an easier task will require a new batch of lawmakers without hidden agendas, who really understand the importance of water. Our valley's strength is producing food, and surface water is not wasted when it's used to make food and honest employment.
Michelena is a Patterson-area farmer who served as a visiting editor at The Bee in 2009. Write him at columns@modbee.com.
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