Maybe it was a tomato, head of lettuce or a chunk of cheddar. Chances are, the Central Valley farmers our firm has financed through loans or lines of credit have grown something that has reached your dinner table. We have a farm-to-fork connection. Today, the challenging part of that connection is water. Rural and urban California have done a great job following state directives to lower rural and residential water use during the historic five-year drought. The actual savings varies throughout California, from 100 to 200 gallons per person each day around the home. That’s a very significant savings.

 

As water deeply readers already know, the Peripheral Canal was rejected by California voters in 1982 when Jerry Brown was governor. But the proposal was reborn in 2015 as the California WaterFix, often referred to as the Delta tunnels. Recently, advocates for the Delta tunnels have been experiencing severe heartache over revelations that undermine their proposal. Using the California Public Records Act, Restore the Delta found that the state commissioned an economic analysis of the proposed tunnels, but it was never published. The Associated Press picked up the story and put it on their international wire.

Regulators say water conservation continues to slip in drought-stricken California after officials lifted mandatory cutbacks. Max Gomberg, a senior climate scientist for the State Water Resources Control Board, said officials on Wednesday will release the figures for how well Californians cutback their water use in August. California just entered its sixth year of a historic drought. Last winter delivered a near-average amount of rain and snow mostly in Northern California, but it wasn’t enough to end the long dry spell. Gomberg says he’s concerned by the latest monthly results.