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OPINION: Feinstein on Water, Supreme Court Nominee and Donald Trump

Sen. Dianne Feinstein visited The Sacramento Bee’s editorial board last week to talk about her drought relief bill and other topics. Here are edited excerpts:

Q: What makes it different this year that this water bill might happen?

A: I think it’s an accumulation of things. First is the population of the state. Today we have 40 million people. And we’ve got huge industries. Everybody concentrates on ag, but we’ve got Silicon Valley, which uses a lot of water. And we simply do not have an adequate water infrastructure.

 

 

USBR Shorts Some California Farmers Irrigation Water

Some federal water contractors in California were outraged on April 1 when the Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) drew a hard line at the Delta, giving those north of it a full allotment of irrigation water and those south of it little to none.

This year’s “miracle March” will give all northern California water users 100 percent of their requested Central Valley Project (CVP) allocations while limiting south-of-the-Delta users to 5 percent.

 

Some California Farms Getting Full Water Supplies

Many California farmers expect to receive full deliveries of irrigation water this year from a vast system of canals and reservoirs run by the federal government, while some in the nation’s most productive farming region will receive a fraction as the state recovers from several years of drought, officials said Friday.

Farms and water customers in the state’s northern Sacramento Valley will get their full water supplies from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. It’s a big improvement over last year, when those farmers received no water and neighboring cities got one-quarter of their contracted amounts.