Wednesday, August 12, 2009

California Collision: Drought

For three years, California's Central Valley has been suffering from a drought. This agricultural center produces half of the nation's vegetables, the region has many orchards as well.

Irrigation has always been used irrigated water for the cultivation of the valley. But that supply has been greatly diminished.

Yesterday, as the Fresno Bee reports, members of the the California Latino Water Coalition, including its chairman, comedian Paul Rodriguez, two congressman, George Radanovich (R-CA) and Jim Costa (D-CA), and several valley mayors called on President Obama to visit the area so he can see for himself the devastation brought on by the drought and the shutting off of the irrigation faucet.

"This is a tragedy, that in the richest agricultural region in the world, you have people waiting in line for food," Rodriguez said. "We feed the world, but come next spring, we will hardly be able to feed ourselves."

Rodriguez appeared via a live remote Tuesday evening on Fox News' Sean Hannity show, along with Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia.

Below-average rainfall, court decisions and environmental protections have led to a significant decrease in irrigation water to farmers. Thousands of acres of farmland have been fallowed, and hundreds of workers are without jobs or are working less.

The pictures were taken on California Route 140, between Merced and Mariposa.

Next: Yosemite

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1 comment:

  1. With water becoming scarce in California, it’s very important all of us follow water conservation both indoors as well as outdoors. There are dozens of little things we can all do to save water and combat the water shortage situation we are facing in Southern California. If you go to http://bit.ly/X1Tud you will see a page with plenty of tip to save water both Outdoor tips and how much water is saved with each one. You would be amazed at how simple these actions are yet how much impact they can have. Things like turning off the water when you brush your teeth can save 3 gallons per day, taking shorter showers saves 5 gallons a day, and installing a smart sprinkler controller saves 40 gallons per day! Check out all the tips on the site and pass it on to fellow Southern Californians!

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