The California Citrus Mutual (CCM) has criticized the state's Central Valley Project's (CVP) decision to not allocate the region's growers any of its surface water, saying agriculture has taken the largest cut of any sector. 

The CVP is a federal water management project devised to provide irrigation and municipal water by regulating and storing water for area.

A release from the CCM said citrus growers in the Friant Service Area were among the most severely impacted, as more and more acerage continued to be taken out of production.

"There is no denying that California is the midst of a water crisis," CCM president Joel Nelsen said.

"For a fourth consecutive year Mother Nature has failed to provide the rain and snow desperately needed to replenish our nearly depleted reservoirs. This is not the first time California has experienced a drought and it certainly will not be the last."

He claimed that until recently, the state had had the infrastructure and water policy necessary to navigate successfully through the inevitable dry years, but this was no longer the case.

"Today, we do not have a system in place that is capable of meeting the State's growing demand," Nelsen said.

"No sector has been asked, or forced, to take a cut as large as agriculture has. Citrus growers are receiving zero surface water this year. Trees, some decades-old, are being bulldozed. How much more of a cut can we take?"

The CCM also criticized the high allocation of water given the 'environmental enhancements' category, which he claimed was exempt from water reductions despite being the largest user.

"It is a widely sensationalized myth that agriculture uses 80% of California's water," the release said.

"According to information from the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), it is the environment that actually consumes a majority of the State's water resources, approximately 78.5%."

"Both agriculture and the urban sector have been required and forced to reduce their water use. The only sector that has been "exempt" from water reductions is, in fact, the largest user of water - the environment."

Data from the DWR shows environmental water uses include 'Wild and Scenic Rivers' (31% of developed water use), 'Instream Flow' (9%), 'Required Delta Outflow' (7%), 'Managed Wetlands' (2%).

It also shows the environmental category accounts for 47.8% of developed water use, while agriculture accounts for 41.%, and 10.8% for urban uses.

The CCM also criticized state water agencies around this time last year, saying growers in the Friant Service Area had been left without water and without security on future supplies.

"There have been many opportunities for the state water agencies to communicate with stakeholders the amount of water that will be delivered, yet they consistently fail to provide numbers," the CCM said in April 2014.

Photo: www.shutterstock.com

www.freshfruitportal.com