Today’s Drought and the Bay/Delta Conservation Plan

Water and Politics, Again...

Yes, I know, that is a big surprise. But, first a quick update on the farm.

It has been an interesting week. It was warm and sunny earlier in the week. Then the rain and wind hit.

The picture below is a young orchard in bloom.

It hasn't looked like that for a few days. The bees really like weather like in the photograph. When it is raining and windy then don't get out and fly. The problem is, as I was taught, that each almond blossom last only three days. If the blooms don't get pollinated in those three days they will not produce nuts. So, while we really appreciate the rain...I wish it had happened last month. That being said, we need rain so bad we will take it whenever it comes.

   The answer is...yes, we did get our fertilizer on the wheat and the oats. We also got a fungicide on the trees to prevent fungus caused by the rain. 

Below is an op-ed I wrote for the Fresno Business Journal. There are no silver bullets in water policy. We need rain. We need infrastructure and we need good policy. The best bet in infrastructure comes from the Bay Delta  Conservation Plan. Some Aggies are hesitant to support it because Governor Brown supports it. Frankly, as I see it, we don't have enough friends that we can afford to ignore anyone who says they want to help.

Today’s Drought and the Bay/Delta Conservation Plan

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright February 2014

This drought is a multi-year problem and it will require multi-year solutions. Some day it will start raining again and many people with think, “Drought over, problem solved.” The problem is we do not have ‘average rainfall.’ We have wet years and we have dry years. We are fools because we do not capture rain in the wet years for the dry years. Drought has happened before, it is happening now, and it will happen again.

Our state faces a huge challenge - three fourths of the state’s rainfall falls north of Sacramento and three fourths of the people are south of the Tehachapis. This problem will not go away until we start using our heads to the benefit of all Californians.

The key component in Governor Brown’s water action plan that would enact the fundamental reforms needed to enable all the other parts to work together smoothly is known formally as the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). It would provide the funding to expand natural habitat and protect endangered species in the Delta. And at the same time it would install the twin tunnels under the Delta that are needed to keep the water for the state's residents flowing reliably.

The reason I can support the BDCP is that it is a balanced plan to provide water to our farms and cities as well as care for the environment.  I, like most Californian’s, am a big fan of balance. The subtitle of my book ‘Ten Reasons’ is “Finding Balance on Environmental Issues.” Gone are the days when business can run roughshod over the environment. But, we must also acknowledge that you cannot have over thirty five million people in this state without some environmental impacts. The answer is found in balancing these concerns and the BDCP seeks to do that.

Sorry, but many of my farmer friends are suspicious that the BDPC is being driven by the environmentalists.  And some are just suspicious about anything that comes out of Sacramento or DC, or that is supported by our Governor.

Those who are willing to sacrifice agriculture in the name of the environment have a choice to make. Environmental activists want everyone to lower their carbon footprint by buying food grown within a few hundred miles of where it is consumed. Guess what? Where can you grow food within a few hundred miles of the thirty five million Californians in the Bay Area and Southern California? That’s right-- here in the Central Valley. So instead of trying to hamstring farmer’s water supplies environmentalists should be helping us secure our water supplies so we can help you lower your carbon footprint. BDCP will help protect the environment in the Delta and globally by helping over thirty five million Californians lower their carbon footprint because they can buy locally produced food.

My real concern about the BDCP is that when it is said and done the water will be too expensive to use to farm. You may have noticed, but government programs tend to get a little out of control. That being said, any serious plan to stabilize our water supply is worthy of our consideration. When a bi-partisan pair of Governor’s – Governor Schwarzenegger and Governor Brown - talk about a two-tunnel solution to our problem it is worth our while to listen.

Even though agriculture would be a major beneficiary of the plan's implementation, some agricultural leaders are reluctant to speak out in support of BDCP because they are concerned it doesn't do enough for storage. The drought is helping us all to make it clear that more storage is needed both north and south of the Delta.  But those new facilities cannot fulfill their potential if we cannot move the water through the Delta to keep them full and later to deliver that water to the places where and when it is needed.  Currently that's not possible because of the Delta's decline and the regulatory roadblock that has been erected there.

People who are concerned about storage in general need to appreciate that the governor's plan is comprehensive. Yes, we need it all. But we can’t let the portfolio be the enemy of the project. And of all the solutions on the table right now, the BDCP is the project that would help California deal with these weather extremes by fixing the state's broken water system and restoring reliability to the water deliveries that Central Valley agriculture desperately needs.