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A road trip down I-5, the "heart" of the "drought"

I also made two trips down and back on I-5, this spring, once at Easter and once for my granddaughter's graduation. My observations were much the same as the writer's. I was amazed to see miles and miles of corn, the thirstiest of crops, six feet high and the irrigation troughs full of shimmering water. I saw orchards and alfalfa fields being covered using flood irrigation and large Rainbird sprinklers watering miles of cotton in the middle of the day. I saw countless acres of almond orchards and vineyards, all permanent crops, requiring water regardless of the state of supply and regardless of the fact that the agribusinesses planting these crops have the most junior rights in the state. What I didn't see were fields full of farm workers, harvesting rows of lettuce, beans, and other food crops. Now everything is automated and machines do the work. Ed.

By Scott Jett

July 29, 2009 -- I just returned from a trip to Southern California.  I have to say, what I observed was enlightening to say the least.

 
On my drive south on I-5, the first thing I noticed were hundreds of trucks hauling tomatoes north from the western central valley and hundreds more empty trucks traveling south to pick up more tomatoes.  Now if I'm not mistaken, tomatoes require an extreme amount of water. In spite of all the press saying so, I didn't see a lot of dead or dying trees in the orchards along I-5 nor did I see all of the dry empty fields that we see in the news all the time, I noticed a lot of wells adjacent to the fields and orchards.  I saw a few empty fields but no more than could be accounted for by seasonal reasons.

 
As I  drove the Grapevine I looked over to see that Pyramid Lake at the top of Tejon Pass and a water storage facility for the Metropolitan Water District, was completely full.  In the past, I have seen its water level much lower, even in very wet years.

 
Next, I drove way out into the desert where we used to go years ago to ride off-road vehicles. Then  there was nothing around for miles and the area was only accessed by dirt roads. The same area is now covered with entire new communities with lakes and beautiful green lawns.  When I asked a resident of one of these communities about water rationing, she said, "There is nothing mandated, they are just asking us to not use more than we did last year". 

These communities can not survive without water.  The person that I spoke to had no idea where their water comes from.  When I told them that their thirst for water was destroying the Delta, they didn't seem to care as long as they had what they want.

 
Just another example of "money talks and bulls**t walks".  This canal needs to be stopped at all costs.