<p> Let’s face the facts – California is short on water as it is. There’s another side to the story though, one that doesn’t blame the water deficiency on dry weather alone. This is a story that spans over two decades, and it’s one that illustrates how California legislators and environmentalists are seemingly exacerbating the state’s water shortage. In an interview with Wall Street Journal, longtime grower Mark Watte from Tulare, California explains his side of the story to show just how <B>tens of thousands of acres of farmland are being wiped out…</b> to allegedly “protect fish.” </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303775504579396093119215448" target="_new"> Wall Street Journal – “How the Other California Lives” </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> In a recent Wall Street Journal article (linked above), Watte explains that the ultimate aim of the environmentalists is to <B>wipe out 1.3 million acres of farmland</b> and return the valley basin to its once-swampy state. They’re already on their way to accomplishing this goal, too. According to the article, west-side growers in the Central Valley have “already taken tens of thousands of acres out of production,” and this year, plan to leave half a million more acres fallow due to a depletion of aquifers and the suspension of state water deliveries. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> Since 2006, farmers in the San Joaquin Valley have apparently been receiving less water than they expected from the federal Central Valley Project. For example, in 2010, <B>farmers were only allocated 45% of the water</b> they were due even though precipitation was higher than normal. This is all in efforts to protect the three-inch delta smelt, steelhead and Chinook salmon...or at least, that’s what environmental groups claim, explains Watte. The environmentalists “don’t care about the fish,” he says. “The fish are just a prop, a vehicle to get our water.” </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> More water is being used for everything but farming, it seems. Nearly 400,000 acre-feet of water over the past two years were used to <B>conduct salmon test-runs on the dry river</b>, while an additional hundreds of thousands of water were flushed into the San Francisco Bay from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to protect three-inch smelt, according to Wall Street Journal.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> A source familiar with the matter tells AndNowUKnow, "There are two big water projects in CA. There's the State Water Project, which is run by California’s Department of Water Resources, and there's the Central Valley Project, which is run by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Both of these projects deliver water to people who have very low priority on the river - most of them agricultural entities. This year, because of the drought, they've given a zero percent allocation of what we call “paper water rights,” which is what you would get if there was enough water for everyone. So, a lot of these people are farmers, and they're not going to get any water.”</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> Watte explains that President Obama, Governor Jerry Brown, and Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer even criticized California’s GOP delegation that would temporarily waive species protections so farmers would be first in the water line when it rains. Brown called it an <B>“unwelcome and divisive intrusion into California’s efforts to manage this severe crisis.”</b></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> To make matters worse, after the recent wave of rain in California, the government “flushed 95,000 acre-feet of water into the ocean” to protect the smelt from the delta pumps that would direct the rainfall to Central Valley farmers, according to Wall Street Journal. It's also clear that mere cash handouts from the government won't be enough to irrigate crops, and Watte, much like many other farmers, are insulted. "It's a slap in our face. It's like leaving a waitress a quarter tip," he says. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> While it’s understandable that billions of dollars of the state’s economy are dependent on these fish, it’s disheartening to see that farmers aren’t getting anywhere near the water they need when it’s available. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> It's also difficult to come up with any one solution that will satisfy everyone especially since water is such a hot commodity in California, but it's crucial that more people become aware of this issue so steps can be taken toward a better solution. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303775504579396093119215448" target="_new"> Wall Street Journal – “How the Other California Lives” </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
