[env-trinity] Articles- UOP/Delta Talks Break Down; 200,000 acres in Westlands to be retired?

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.recordnet.com/articlelink/032004/news/articles/032004-gn-6.php
Delta water talks break down
San Joaquin Record - 3/20/04
By Audrey Cooper, staff writer
Important negotiations over Delta water quality have broken down, leaving local farmers to wonder if their long-standing problems with salty irrigation water will be ignored yet again while Southern California water agencies work on a plan to take more water from the Delta. 

Seven months ago, Delta farming groups and a Contra Costa County water agency first sat down with some of the state's largest and most politically powerful water groups, all of which rely on water that is pumped from the Delta and sent south. 

Those talks were aimed at coming up with a way for the large water groups -- such as the Fresno-based Westlands Water District and the urban Metropolitan Water District of Southern California -- to take more Delta water while also solving some of the water-quality problems those exports have caused over the past few decades. 

Attorneys who represent Delta farmers once proclaimed the talks could be the much-needed solution to the Delta's infamous water problems. Yet those negotiations, regularly held at Stockton's University of the Pacific, broke down last Saturday. 

In the end, Delta farmers wanted more promises than the other side would give. 

The water agencies that pump out Delta water weren't willing to give up enough water, said Tom Zuckerman, an attorney for the Central Delta Water Agency. 

"From our point of view, it was absolutely necessary that existing water-quality standards were met. We were unable to get a commitment that they would do that," Zuckerman said. 

Dan Nelson, head of the San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority, said his side couldn't promise to solve problems they may not be causing. The agency represents 32 small irrigation districts that rely on water pumped out of the Delta. 

"I think we even offered a lot more than some of our folks would be comfortable with. The Delta people wanted us to take responsibility for everything that causes water-quality problems, even though we may not be responsible for all those problems," Nelson said. 

The Delta has always been a source of intense debate when it comes to meeting the state's water needs, in part because of the complicated way water is moved around the arid state. 

At the core of that water system are two sets of large water pumps near Tracy. River water that normally would flush through the Delta instead is pumped into a series of canals and aqueducts owned by the state and federal governments. The removal of that water lowers the Delta's water quality. 

Alex Hildebrand, a Manteca farmer and member of the South Delta Water Agency, said although the University of the Pacific talks stalled, more talks have been planned for next week with Lester Snow, the newly named head of the state Department of Water Resources. 

After that meeting, the two sides may get their heads back together, Hildebrand said. 

"But I may be too optimistic," he said. 

U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, and state Sen. Michael Machado, D-Linden, have both said that Delta water quality cannot be sacrificed in order to increase water pumping. Both politicians chair committees that would ultimately have to sign off on at least part of the water plan. 

On Friday, Machado said he is optimistic that the negotiations will continue, despite the recent impasse. 

"This is not an issue that can afford not to be resolved. The health of the Delta is directly related to this. Where we go in the future ... to find some harmony between the north and south is very important to the state," he said. 

Pombo said he is also working to bring both sides back to the negotiating table. # 

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/national/8230092.htm

Growers on Soured Fresno, Calif., Farmland Discuss New Ways of Farming

By Dennis Pollock, The Fresno Bee, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News



Mar. 19 - Sitting in the midst of soured farmland where the economy is on the skids, about 20 people gathered in Five Points on Thursday to discuss the need for a revolution.

"With the Westlands land retirement, the decrease in water supplies and the drainage problems, the stage is set for a revolution," said Sarge Green, manager of the Westside Resource Conservation District.

Some 200,000 acres of farmland in the Westlands Water District are expected to be taken out of production because of salinity that has been building as a result of drainage difficulties. With one in three residents of the region unemployed, the land retirement is expected to cause the loss of thousands of jobs.

The meeting was marked by an emphasis on trying to help farming operations survive and keep jobs in the region -- and perhaps create more -- by employing new ways of thinking and farming:

Instead of seeing salt as a waste product, find markets for it. Instead of depending on crops such as wheat and cotton that are assisted by federal subsidies, diversify into other arenas, including biodiesel production and biomass production.

Also, some crops can be used to draw selenium, a naturally occurring mineral linked to deformities in waterfowl on the Kesterson Reservoir, from the soil. Those crops -- including canola in the winter and sunflowers in the summer -- can be used in biodiesel and provide selenium to cattle who lack the mineral.

One of the leading soldiers of the west-side cause is John Diener of Five Points, who is working to reclaim thousands of abandoned acres and attract interest in alternative farming approaches.

"We need to do things that keep the money here," Diener said during the program that was presented by the conservation district and Community Alliance with Family Farmers.

Diener explained how he uses biodiesel made from the oils of sunflowers and canola to help power irrigation pumps and tractors on his Red Rock Ranch. He said the meal from those plants contains selenium and protein feed for "ruminant animals" -- sheep, deer and cows. While the west side of the Valley is naturally rich in selenium, the east side is not, Diener said. Cattle on the east side could benefit from the addition of selenium to their feed. Diener came up with a way to recycle water to reduce its salinity and in three years made great strides.

"We were surprised how fast we reclaimed the land," he said. "We went from 1 ton of wheat per acre to 3 tons in three years."

Among those who attended the meeting was Craig Roberts, who said Diener "is on the cutting edge of what ag needs to do if it is going to survive."

Roberts is plant manager for Cal/West Seeds in Tranquillity, which is operated by a grower cooperative.

He said the cooperative's grower base has been dwindling because of economic challenges that growers are facing, and its sales of alfalfa seed have dropped to 3 million pounds from 14 million in 1988.

Rob Rundle, an agronomist with Britz Farms, said he has a personal interest in biodiesel because it does not emit greenhouse gases.

"It's more environmentally friendly and could be a solution to the problem of climate change," he said.

But Rundle pointed out that biodiesel costs more -- about $1 more than a gallon of conventional diesel, according to Bryan Jenkins, a professor with the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at University of California at Davis.

Jose Faria, chief of the Special Investigations Branch of the California Department of Water Resources, talked of using salt ponds to absorb energy from the sun to produce electricity or to operate a greenhouse.

He also said saltwater is being used at Tulare Lake to raise brine shrimp, which are sold as feed for pet fish.

David Righthouse, plant manager and vice president of AES Mendota, a biomass energy facility, said such plants are seen as "an air pollution solution" to burning orchard prunings in open fields.

That's because they can cut particulates released by between 96 percent and 99 1/2 percent.

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