The price of water in California caused this city to pay more than $1 million to keep their faucets running

The price of water in Coalinga, California, is too high for most farmers, but too low for the average Tex-Milford area

Miles of brittle, uprooted almond trees lay dead on their sides on parched farmland in Coalinga, California, as an intensifying drought, new restrictions and skyrocketing water prices are forcing farmers to sacrifice their crops. Roadside signs warn against watering front lawns as residents brace for higher water bills as the precious resource disappears.

Coalinga usually gets its water through an aqueduct which runs from the San Luis Reservoir, about 70 miles northwest of the city. The US Bureau of Reclamation had reduced the amount of water Coalinga could take from the reservoir by 80% this year due to the severe West’s mega-dachshund.

For the rest of March, Coalinga is short about 600 acres of water and the equivalent of 300 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

With the city on track to run out of water by mid- to late November, officials turned to the increasingly expensive open market to make up the difference. They bought from a California public irrigation district.

The cheapest place in the world to live was pegged at just over one million dollars. It takes the same amount of water to produce the same amount of goods.

The price of water in the state went from $200 in the new year to $1,000 by the time you fill half of an Olympic-sized pool.

Adkisson said they were floored by their water purchase. “I could not believe they could sell water at that price — but that was actually a cheap rate, that’s the cheapest rate we found.”

“We are a very poor community,” Adkisson said. These people out here that you see walking by, driving by cannot afford a 1,000% increase in water bills.

This is the first time Coalinga has had to buy water on the open market. As the weather in the west becomes more dry and less rainy, local leaders fear that they will have to sell water to the highest bidder in order to stay afloat.

The farmers said their water allocations had decreased due to insufficient amount of water to grow 11 crops, including thirsty walnuts and almonds. The water needed to grow walnuts for next season would cost the Grubers $40,000.

The lack of snow and rain in the west left central Oregon dry as part of the effects of the recent winter storms in Oregon. Many of the farmers in this area do not have priority rights to the water, meaning they are at risk of failure.

From protests at the California’s state capitol this week to a living room full of worried farmers, California State Senator Melissa Hurtado, a Democrat who represents part of California’s southern Central Valley, has been listening to farmers’ stories about how drought and high water prices have affected them.

In an August letter, Hurtado and a bipartisan group of California legislators urged the US Justice Department to investigate “potential drought profiteering.” Hurtado suspects there could be price gouging in drought-stricken western states.

In an email response to Hurtado’s letter, the Justice Department said in October the complaint was “forwarded to the appropriate legal staff for further review.” The agency didn’t want to comment on what it might do.

Oregon farmers are mired in drought and water shortages since their first move: a for-sale sign in a rural area

There are for-sale signs on some farms around Central Oregon, which has been mired in water shortages over the years.

Casad and her husband Chris were first-generation farmers and ranchers who started with a few acres of land east of Bend, but moved north in 2017: to scale up their farm The couple manage many acres of farmland in Jefferson County where they grow organic food and raise pigs, chickens, and cattle.

Only a year after that move, they started experiencing the impact of the drought and water cuts so severe that they made the tough decision to stop growing potatoes — a valuable crop that took them nine years to build a local market for.

“It’s devastating,” Casad told CNN. We think that this year will be the same as last year because we have been cutting back more and more since then, and it was the worst year yet.

Around the peak of the western drought in the summer of 2021, nearly 300,000 square miles of the West was in exceptional drought, the worst designation in the US Drought Monitor. Comprising 10 states — every state in the West except Wyoming — this designation covered one-quarter of all the land.

The state of Oregon has not seen a full year of rain in three years, and the worst-ever arid spell in the state has happened in the last three years.

Natalie Danielson, the administrative director at Friends of Family Farmers, said she believes the main water scarcity issue is the unfair distribution of water. If the 100-year-old system changes, she said there may be enough water for everyone in Central Oregon.

Crawford told CNN that the ranchers and farmers have had to sell livestock, which will result in a negative effect on their bottom line. Rural residents in our area need help with other issues, such as well-deepening and water quality.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/04/us/oregon-drought-water-shortages-farming-climate/index.html

Water Shortages and Climate in Sakari Farm, Idaho, after a State-Level Drought Emergency for Deschutes County, Oregon, in 2018

After weeks of urging from local officials, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek in mid-February declared a state-level drought emergency for the counties, which could open the door for federal drought-relief funds.

Spring Alaska Schreiner, who is Inupiaq and a member of the Valdez Native Tribe of Alaska, bought a few acres in Deschutes County just 20 minutes outside of Bend in 2018.

The time when the ice breaks is what Schreiner names her tribe, Upingaksraq, meaning. In her first year of owning Sakari Farm, hail storms destroyed the greenhouses. Then in 2020, the megadrought intensified.

She told CNN the climate had changed after they got the farm. winters were occurring later in the season. Like right now, we’re finally getting some snow That is weird because it is March almost.

She said that it’s a “very unique vegetable farm,” and it can’t not water for a week. “So, what we did was we started shutting off water in parts of the farm and we had to prioritize which crops to grow or to let die, basically.”

As of Friday, Crescent Lake was only 9% full. Since the region has received a measly amount of precipitation in recent months, the effects of the Drought are still strong at Schreiner’s farm. She said the farm had to be innovative in how it dealt with shortages of food and water, and how it controlled the amount of food it gave out.

She plans to use funding from the US Department of Agriculture to switch the whole farm to a method of irrigation that uses water to the roots of plants. She wants weather stations and water sensors to be installed so that she can improve plant growth efficiency.

“We’re doing everything we can this year, and there’s nothing else you can do,” Schreiner said. “After that, you just start taking more crops away, which is income.”

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/04/us/oregon-drought-water-shortages-farming-climate/index.html

The water crisis and ranching in Jefferson County, Oregon, blamed on a century-old water law for the dire problems farmers had to face

Casad said some days weight can feel heavier than others. She blames the century-old water laws for the dire water challenges.

Like the drought-plagued Colorado River Basin, Oregon water laws are based on seniority – those who were among the first to claim land or water rights have priority over those that followed.

A century old Western water law isn’t the only factor that determines why some areas are experiencing more severe droughts than others, says an agricultural support manager. The system we are dealing with is complex and there is a lot we have to do to change it.

Casad and Schreiner are water right holders in Jefferson County, but they do not get the full benefit of the system.

Smith said that some ranchers in Crook County hold senior rights and are struggling with water scarcity. Casad said she has spoken with ranchers there who have had to haul water to their cattle because the springs have yet to fully return and make up for the yearslong water deficit.

Casad said people need to start rethinking how land is managed because of the climate crisis and prepare to make tough and painful decisions.

Casad said farmers have always been incredibly resilient. “This is not the first time we have faced insane climactic challenges and it won’t be the last.”