John Azevedo: Farmers built the reservoirs that now supply water for lawns

Re “As lawns die, why plant nuts?” (Letters, June 28): In response to the statement that farmers “disregard” for our current drought crisis, I want to make some key points. As the general public drives through the countryside and sees “wasteful irrigation” while they are asked to sacrifice their lawns, keep in mind that we farmers have been asked to conserve for years now. Most of us are receiving less than half the water from our irrigation districts (TID, MID) than we did just a few short years ago. A few others, including Merced, are receiving zero. Try to grow food with that!

Farmers have invested their own money in infrastructure, pumps, pipelines, etc. to keep their farms alive. In many cases, the irrigation districts – that farmers invested in and built decades ago – buy water back from farmers in order to supply it to urban residents. We have planted drought-resistant crops, built low-emission irrigation systems and left thousands of acres unplanted across the state to conserve water. The issue is the lack of storage capacity and the lack of leadership willing to fix the situation.

This story was originally published July 1, 2015 at 9:36 AM with the headline "John Azevedo: Farmers built the reservoirs that now supply water for lawns."