Daniel Hankemeier: Irrigation districts right to stand up to government

I applaud the Oakdale and South San Joaquin irrigation districts for their decision to divert water needed for local farmers. Neither our own governor nor the federal government seems to understand that 70 percent of this state’s income is from agriculture. Neither do either of them know what next year will bring. There is no guarantee that needed rain will come.

I would like to think the Modesto Irrigation District as well as the Merced Irrigation District would follow their leads.

We here at Don Pedro are drilling wells at an exorbitant cost to prepare ourselves for the end of August when the water in Lake McClure will be unfit for our purposes. This would all be unnecessary if the state’s Department of Fish and Game would reduce the flow of water from the dam. It is beyond me that they have so little consideration for humanity. Also disturbing is that neither the state nor the federal government has provided any assistance in building these projects; New Melones is the only exception.

Editor’s note: Agriculture accounts for only 2.2 percent of California’s gross domestic product, not including food processing or packaging.

This story was originally published April 14, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Daniel Hankemeier: Irrigation districts right to stand up to government."