June 1 – Reuters
(Christopher Walljasper):
“Joe Del Bosque is leaving a third of his 2,000-acre farm near Firebaugh, California, unseeded this year due to extreme drought.
Yet, he hopes to access enough water to produce a marketable melon crop.
Farmers
across California say they expect to receive little water from state
and federal agencies that regulate the state's reservoirs and canals,
leading many to leave fields barren, plant more drought-tolerant crops
or seek new income sources all-together.
‘We're taking a big risk in planting crops and hoping the water gets here in time,’ said Del Bosque…
The
last major drought from 2012 to 2017 reduced irrigation supplies to
farmers, forced strict household conservation measures and stoked deadly
wildfires…
Nearly
40% of California's 24.6 million acres of farmland are irrigated, with
crops like almonds and grapes in some regions needing more water to
thrive.”
June 3 – Associated Press
(Adam Beam):
“Each year Lake Oroville helps water a quarter of the nation’s crops, sustain endangered salmon beneath its massive earthen dam and anchor the tourism economy of a Northern California county that must rebuild seemingly every year after unrelenting wildfires.
(Adam Beam):
“Each year Lake Oroville helps water a quarter of the nation’s crops, sustain endangered salmon beneath its massive earthen dam and anchor the tourism economy of a Northern California county that must rebuild seemingly every year after unrelenting wildfires.
But
now the mighty lake — a linchpin in a system of aqueducts and
reservoirs in the arid U.S. West that makes California possible — is
shrinking with surprising speed amid a severe drought, with state
officials predicting it will reach a record low later this summer.
While droughts are common in California, this year’s is much hotter and drier than others, evaporating water more quickly…
The state’s more than 1,500 reservoirs are 50% lower than they should be this time of year…”