WATER! with Paul Rodriguez

[christo930]

Why is anyone farming on land that has to be irrigated in the first place? This is what happens when you try to make a desert into farm land.

[FrancescaGianna]

LOL CA looks like Mexico

[mandingo9999999]

Jose, Who are 'the thieves that stole the water'?

You are ill-informed. Do some reading on the CVP and SWP you'll find southern valley farmers are first on the list to get cut when there are low water years. It's law and always has been. Ask your employer why they expanded planting with a intermittent water supply?

Anyone comment on the thousands of jobs lost because of the fisheries collapse, a result of record water exports from the Delta. You give a shit about their businesses and jobs?

[SmackMyBertha]

Paul Rodriguez Junior is a pro!!!!!! YEAH

[kerman04]

I recently saw a interview where a mother was carrying her baby and she said " I can't belive the gov. is protecting this tiny fish rather than my child having food on the table" That made me so sad, and even if it's not the fish that is still sad that the gov. want's to take all these jobs away these people need their jobs in agriculture to survive. I don't want Mendota to become a dessert town, It was once The Canalope Center of the World. I remember!

[mandingo9999999]

Did IQ's drop sharply recently?

Read my post below. State and federal allocations of water are at 30% and 10% because of drought and the fact that south valley farmers have the most junior water rights.

You should ask a different question: how long is it sustainable growing 'canalope' in the desert, with junior water rights, with California's ever increasing demand on it's limited water?

It's tough all over. Cry me a river.

[fernfeyes]

Somebody didn't put the right clauses in their water contracts..there is a small irrigation district in the Kerman/Tranquillity area that gets all the water it wants. I'm not saying there isn't a water shortage, but strange how lawyers can make/break/justify anything any which way they want.

[kobelakers69]

paul rodriguez for governor of california

[mandingo9999999]

Paul frames this far too simplisticly. This is not about one fish, the smelt. It is about the collapse of an entire regions ecosystem - Delta residents, communities, the hospitality industry, commercial fishing from Redding to Sacramento to Fort Brag rely on healthy chinook salmon, steedhead, and other species. ALL have collapsed in just the past few years because of record water exports.

What about them and THEIR jobs? What about the quality of water they have in their own back yards?

[mandingo9999999]

The fundamental problem is there is a limited amount of water - always has been and always will be - valley farmers think it's a endless, cheap supply.

Perhaps they should stop expanding? Conserve with better irrigation methods? Stop switching to permenant crops in a desert? Realize they are basing a growing industry on a water supply that continues to shrink with Californias ever exanding population?

Sooner or later valley farming will have to live within it's limits, like everyone else

[fernfeyes]

If you walk up to the San Luis Canal, you will see that it's full to almost overflowing..there is no shortage of water. I live in Mendota, 20 miles from the canal. The water shortage is a political ploy to deny water to users along the canal..it all flows to L.A. The environment was made an issue when L.A. lost a lawsuit concerning Owens Lake and they saw the canal as an alternate source...this has been planned since the 60's. Find out who's on all the water boards..find the common family ties.

[korvelo]

we have plenty of water we just have to collect it better and use it wisely and if needed we can make or import more.

the problem in the delta is more about Sacramento dumping toxic water in the delta and needing all water they can get to flush it out to sea,that's what is killing the fish and disturbing the system.

time to all cities on the delta to build a pipeline to take their dirty water out to sea ,that in conjunction with 2 more dams and a few desalination plants would solve the problem

[Mannystate93]

Who they hell are they to take away the water that people need. We are going to get that water back, a puro pinche huevo but we will, I dont think enough people really know about this and how it can and possibly will affect them ..everyone needs water to live and to work. I hope anyone who see's this spreads the word ..I know where my vote is.

[mandingo9999999]

Here's a quite from a Capital Press story - 4-30-09:

------

"But it combines with another reality: lifting Endangered Species Act rules from the Delta wouldn't improve water availability by much.....

[mandingo9999999]

...Lester Snow, director of the state's Department of Water Resources, estimates that without ESA rules on Delta water, state irrigation allocations might be reaching 35 percent this year, instead of 30. Federal officials give a similar estimate - the Central Valley Project's 10 percent allocations for south-of-Delta farmers might rise to 15 percent, they say.

"If the ESA goes away this afternoon, we still have a drought," Snow said last week."

[pray4chicken]

oh snap! i live in los banos

[GreenJesus423]

This is rediculous....my buddy has to carry water to every almond tree on his ranch because of this nonsense...what genious enacted this narrow sightedness...i'd like to save endangered species as well but at what cost? Especially with the piss poor economy at the present. This needs to be pryed out of the environmentalists radical hands and given to the conservationists. Eat Almonds!!!!!

[calwaternow]

This is a human rights issue, first and second, possible finacial ruin for all of California! Where is your outrage Californians? Act upon Paul's advise and send his message to everyone you know. If we get behind this, our state will prosper. If not, there will be suffering, the high unemployment rates and imported, costly food-grown with questionable farming practices.

[filmunition]

Yes, I was there supporting this cause Paul!

[Loponwala]

Great cause and great work Mr. Rodriguez