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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Jay<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Mr Johnson is simply re-chewing the same old cabbage, below. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Agriculture uses 80 percent of CA’s ‘developed’ water (if you’re a river advocate you simply leave the ‘developed’ out) or 40 percent of the total water that rises across CA’s 43 million acres (that’s the 40 percent figure that the ag advocates use)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Then he stumbles on to say that rivers are ‘nice’ – or something to that effect<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>But lost in Mr Johnson’s cabbage-chewing noise is that increment of CA water that is neither 1- ‘developed’; nor 2- specifically designated as ‘environmental’<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Are North Coast river discharges to the ocean to be tallied in the ‘environmental’ column because (some) of them are in the W&S Rivers system? Or are they simply ‘undeveloped’ – neither fish nor fowl ?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I’ve been using the 80 percent too long to learn the new math<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Bill Kier</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> env-trinity [mailto:env-trinity-bounces@velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Glase, Jay<br><b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, May 19, 2015 6:23 AM<br><b>To:</b> Sari Sommarstrom<br><b>Cc:</b> env-trinity@velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [env-trinity] LA Times OpEd: In the water crisis, it's time to move beyond the farms vs. cities mindset<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>I've seen this graphic before, but have never seen a good description of how the numbers are determined. Does anyone know the math behind the figures in this graph? Since it's credited to DWR, I know there's a formula somewhere. Does this presume to account for all of the water that falls from the sky in any form, lands in California, and then goes somewhere? Does it account for evaporation, for water that stays in the mountain lakes of the Sierras and elsewhere, becomes groundwater, or is taken up and transpired by the douglas fir and ponderosa pine forests in the state? <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>If the argument is made that most comparisons are just for "developed" water, and that the comparison needs to be expanded, then the next question might be, where do you stop? If "the gross domestic joy generated by rivers" is considered a use of water, why not count the water that goes toward the bright green buds of new growth on a pine tree in the spring? Maybe the math gets too complex at that point, but surely someone has calculated how much water a pine tree can transpire into the atmosphere in a season of growth. <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Hey, I just thought of something, is all the water that grows all the trees that are harvested in California part of the agricultural water? <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Time for some more math?!<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Cheers,<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>jay<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>On Mon, May 18, 2015 at 12:44 PM, Sari Sommarstrom <<a href="mailto:sari@sisqtel.net" target="_blank">sari@sisqtel.net</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-indent:.5in;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'><a href="http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-johnson-big-picture-california-water-20150517-story.html" target="_blank">http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-johnson-big-picture-california-water-20150517-story.html</a></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:25.5pt;background:white'><b><span style='font-size:25.5pt;font-family:"Belizio","serif";color:#CCCCCC'>Op-Ed</span></b><span style='font-size:25.5pt;font-family:"LAHeadline","serif"'>: In the water crisis, it's time to move beyond the farms vs. cities mindset</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:15.0pt;background:white'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#666666'>By </span></b><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#FF5443;text-transform:uppercase'>Nathanael Johnson</span></b><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";text-transform:uppercase'> </span></b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-indent:.5in;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-indent:.5in;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>At this point, just about every Californian with a pulse knows that agriculture uses 80% of the state's water, and cities 20%. This talking point is true as far as it goes, but that's not very far. You have to limit your vision to the water consumed by humans, “developed” water. This perspective blinds us to the big water picture, and it sets up an unnecessary opposition between farms and cities.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-indent:.5in;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'><img border=0 width=253 height=450 id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D09208.EF2E5890" alt="How water is used in California"></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-indent:.5in;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-indent:.5in;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>The 80/20 view of California water leaves out the water</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>required to keep riverine fish and riparian habitat alive. It</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>leaves out the freshwater flows needed to keep saltwater</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>from surging into the Sacramento-San Joaquin River</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>Delta. And it leaves out beauty and the gross domestic joy</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>generated by rivers.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-indent:.5in;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>Here's the complete picture: About 50% of California</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>water goes toward maintaining environmental quality,</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>40% goes to agriculture, and 10% goes to cities (including</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>business uses such as manufacturing). It can be</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>counterintuitive to think of the environment as a water</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>user — after all, that water is “used” only insofar as we</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>leave it in the rivers. But allowing water to flow down</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>rivers to the sea really is an active use with measurable</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>benefits. We devalue the environment if we leave it out of</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>the equation. And we can't judge the arguments for and</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>against such uses if we don't acknowledge that they exist.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-indent:.5in;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>Still, it's the ag/urban split that sticks in our minds.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>Whether the figure is 80% or 40%, the fact that farms use</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>so much more water than cities evokes fury from those</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>who see farmers as robber barons, converting a natural</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>resource into private fortunes. There's a growing populist</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>sentiment that irrigation water is simply making rich</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>farmers richer.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-indent:.5in;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>This is by no means self-evident. It's worth noting that</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>public sentiment was once precisely reversed and</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>irrigation was seen as a democratizing force.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>In 1870, giant dry-farmed wheat estates and cattle ranches</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>dominated the Central Valley. But with irrigation, a family</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>farmer could make a living on as little as 10 acres selling</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>vegetables, fruit and nuts. At that time, Californians saw</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>irrigation as a way to break up the land monopolies and</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>foster Jeffersonian farmers.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-indent:.5in;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>The reality, of course, is complex. In the beginning,</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>irrigation enriched the monopolists even more than small</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>farmers, but as Norris Hundley Jr. shows in his history of</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>the state's water, “The Great Thirst,” it also built up an</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>agricultural middle class in places such as Fresno, Merced</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>and Stockton. Irrigated agriculture provided for the</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>egalitarian beginnings of Anaheim, Riverside and Ontario.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>It has been the means by which many immigrants —</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>German, Swiss, Armenian, Hmong and Mexican — have</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>made their stake in California.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-indent:.5in;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>And the situation remains complex today: Irrigation water</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>supports millionaires with giant tracts of land and middleclass</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>family farmers alike.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-indent:.5in;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>Another reason the 80% figure has gone viral is that it</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>contains an uncomfortable truth: It takes a lot of water to</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>grow food. Contrary to conventional wisdom, drip irrigation</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>systems and micro sprinklers do very little to</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>change a crop's consumption of water. It's true that less efficient</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>techniques like flood irrigation use more water,</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>but what isn't required by the plants isn't lost, it goes down</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>into the aquifer or back into the river. Increasing the</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>organic matter in soil — with techniques such as</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>composting, mulching and reduced plowing — can</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>improve water retention and lessen water use. But the</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>lion's share of irrigation water goes into the plants, and</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>that's hard to change. In the end, any cuts to irrigation</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>mean less food production.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-indent:.5in;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>Less food production means less economic activity. That's</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>not cause for panic: Agriculture accounts for just 2% of</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>California's massive economy. Nonetheless, California has</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>the highest agriculture sales of any state, and those sales</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>are the bulwark of many poorer counties. There are really</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>two Californias: a wealthy coast and a poor inland that</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>relies heavily on farmers.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-indent:.5in;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>Whenever there is a drought, farmers suffer first — they</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>idle land, pump groundwater. Each year, farmers have</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>been pumping up more water than seeps down, but a law</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>passed last year will change that. There will be even less</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>water for farmers as the new regulations put an end to</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>groundwater mining and the climate warms. There's no</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>getting around it: Those cutbacks will hurt.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-indent:.5in;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>In cities, by contrast, residents can cut water consumption</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>with much less pain. Los Angeles has kept its water</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>consumption flat since the 1980s while adding a million</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>residents, thanks to improved technology (low-flow</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>toilets!) and improved landscaping (these dry gardens are</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>far more beautiful than turf, in my humble opinion).</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>In a moment of crisis, it's human nature to look for</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>villains: Liberals against conservatives, north against</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>south, farms against cities. The 80/20 statistic neatly — far</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>too neatly — defines the conflict. But is the objective to</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>define our enemies and triumph over them, or do we want</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>to find solutions for the greater commonwealth?</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-indent:.5in;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>If it's the latter, we should watch to ensure that our new</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>groundwater law results in rules for real sustainability,</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>move swiftly to restore water to residents whose wells have</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>gone dry, step up our water conservation efforts and stop</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>thinking in terms of them versus us. Most important, we</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>must continue California's leadership in fighting climate</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>change. It's misleading to zero in on part of the picture: If</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>we want holistic solutions, we have to take the holistic</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>view.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><i><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>Nathanael Johnson, a Bay Area journalist, writes the</span></i><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><i><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>"Thought for Food" column at Grist.org. He is the author</span></i><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><i><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>of "All Natural" and a contributor to Harper's Magazine,</span></i><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><i><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>New York and "This American Life." Twitter:</span></i><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><i><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'>@SavorTooth.</span></i><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-autospace:none'><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#262626'> </span><o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><br>_______________________________________________<br>env-trinity mailing list<br><a href="mailto:env-trinity@velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us">env-trinity@velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us</a><br><a href="http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/env-trinity" target="_blank">http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/env-trinity</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></body></html>