California Water

LIFESTYLE

California Water

A Rancher’s Perspective

Story By Clark Company

The record-breaking temperatures and drought conditions that gripped many parts of America over this past summer brought the topic of water availability, food production and their important role in the nation’s economy—and its future—into sharp focus.

“Water, arguably, is the nation’s most precious natural resource,” said Pete Clark, a fifth generation California rancher and broker/owner of Clark Company based in Paso Robles, California. “The on-going drought in California has highlighted the importance of water time and again. Its management is critical, and the state’s policies have implications far beyond our borders.”.

California ranks first in the nation in agricultural cash receipts. Without adequate water, California’s farmers will not be able to continue producing one-third of America’s vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts. Its ranchers, dairy farmers and poultry producers will not be adding to the nation’s protein supply.

The forces that are reshaping California’s landscape are also at work across the country. As such, the Golden State provides an interesting case study.

The Situation

Historically, drought is part of California’s natural weather patterns. In the late 1800s California suffered a 10-year drought that was so severe ranchers destroyed their cattle because they could not feed them and had no way to ship them to the Midwest.

To exacerbate the situation, the state’s population is robust. Currently, it’s just over 39 million people, which is already straining the dwindling water supply.

The state is home to one of the world’s most extensive network of dams, reservoirs, power plants, pumping plants and aqueducts in the world. The infrastructure is used to move the water from the watersheds north of Sacramento where 75 percent of the state’s rain and snow falls to the southern two-thirds of the state, which accounts for 80 percent of California’s water demands.

As the population grew, so did the demand and competition for water. Cities, towns, industries and their residents and workers need water as do farmers, ranchers, and recreationalists. Mother Nature also needs her share to support wildlife, fisheries, habitat as well as aquifers and other necessary components of the water cycle.

“Balancing all of these needs is challenging,” Clark said. “It’s even more difficult when people, who are insulated from the realities of nature, mistakenly believe our stores of natural resources are endless.”

Water Rights

California, like most states, relies on a complicated system of water rights and other regulations to govern the use of surface and groundwater.

A water right is a property right that grants a property owner the use of a reasonable amount of water for a beneficial purpose such as agriculture, fishing, industry, or recreation. Water usage, regulated by the State Water Resources Control Board, ensures that California’s waters cannot be owned by individuals, groups, businesses, or government agencies. Instead, they give individuals and others the right to beneficially use predeclared amounts of water through permits, licenses and registrations.

California law differentiates between groundwater and surface water. Generally, to get the right to groundwater, the landowner simply extracts water and uses it for a beneficial purpose. Using groundwater on the land over the groundwater basin from which it was taken results in a “overlying groundwater right,” while using the harvested groundwater elsewhere results in an “appropriative groundwater right.”

Overlying groundwater rights have a higher priority than appropriative groundwater rights. Historically, the state, in most cases, did not have authority to issue permits for groundwater diversion, but could stop waste. Since the passage of State Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in 2014, the state, or local groundwater agencies created under the act, have the authority to curtail groundwater extraction by both overlying landowners and appropriators like cities and municipalities.

Surface water rights are more complicated. Some surface rights can only be held by government. Depending on the situation, individuals can hold riparian water rights, appropriative water rights and prescriptive water rights. Any new surface uses must be approved by the State Water Resources Control Board before the water is taken.

In a drought year, those who are established as “high priority rights” know they are likely to receive water and those with “low priority” know they may not receive water. They can plan accordingly.

The State Water Resources Control Board constantly monitors projects and permits. The permits can be modified when necessary to create “more protective conditions.”

As the State Water Resources Control Board noted on its website, “If your food was grown or raised by California farmers or ranchers, you depend on someone who either has a water right or buys water from a water supplier, such as an irrigation district, who has a water right.”

The same holds true for residents who use water for any household purpose or those who rely on electricity, which was likely generated by a power company using a hydropower plant. Those recreationalists who fish, swim or boat in a man-made lake or raft below a dam are able to do so because the owner has a water right.

The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act

In the face of ever-growing challenges, the California State Legislature passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), which is a statewide framework designed to help protect the state’s groundwater resources. The goal is allowing groundwater to be effectively managed and preserved at the local level through the formation of groundwater sustainability agencies for high- and medium-priority basins.

The agencies are charged with developing and implementing groundwater sustainability plans to preserve water resources, increase groundwater supply, and mitigate overdraft over a 20-year period. The plans are reviewed by the California Department of Water Resources.

Results of the past eight years have revealed a flaw. When SGMA was conceived, it did not require adequate economic impact assessments. As a result, farmers and ranchers have seen significant decreases in land value as well as revenue. It has also negatively impacted jobs and wages.

A report from the California Chapter of the American Association of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers reveals a land value chasm between regions with two sources of irrigation water and those with well access that is being strained by declining water tables and subsidence.

In addition to land values dropping, land is being taken out of farming production.

“Experts say it takes about one acre of land to feed one person for a year,” Clark said.

A 2020 study conducted by the San Joaquin Valley Water Blueprint found that up to one million acres of land will be fallowed over the next 20 years as basins come into compliance. This is one-fifth of all the acreage under cultivation in the richly productive San Joaquin Valley.

“Once that acreage is taken out of production, it may never be ‘put back to work,’” Clark said.

It appears that specialty crop incomes, particularly tree nuts, will be hit hardest with fruits and vegetables also bearing the brunt.

As a result, up to $7.2 billion in farm revenue may be lost annually. Direct job losses will be about 42,000, disproportionately impacting low-wage earners and disadvantaged communities, and equating to about $2 billion in lost salaries each year.

Regional stakeholders are working to correct SGMA’s flaws including asking for more economic impact studies as well as different, more manageable pumping limits that will protect both the environment and agriculture.

“We must drink. We must eat. We must keep our economic engine turning,” Clark said. “To do that, we must all ensure that agriculture’s interests are kept at the forefront of water policy, planning and debates.”