Carol Lee: Farmers have already cut much more than being asked of city dwellers
How can anyone say that farmers are not being asked to reduce water usage when we have farmers who will receive no water allotment? That sounds like a 100 percent cutback to me. Others have fallowed fields because of reduced allotments. Isn’t that a cutback? Just recently you had an article about TID reducing the allotment each farmer can receive; that’s also a cutback.
It’s true the governor didn’t demand a cutback for ag, but near empty reservoirs and a lack of snowfall certainly mandated one. Many farmers have voluntarily reduced water use by installing drip systems. Government mandated or not, farmers, with the possible exception of those using their own wells, are reducing water use. And I’m guessing the reduction averages to more than 25 percent statewide.
Farmers are not being given special treatment, they are being impacted much greater than non-farmers, in many cases far exceeding the 25 percent reduction required by Gov. Jerry Brown.
Carol Lee, Modesto
This story was originally published April 7, 2015 at 11:15 AM with the headline "Carol Lee: Farmers have already cut much more than being asked of city dwellers."