It is looking like drought time is coming over us here in Northern California. After a year of floods we’ve now seen two years of blue sky and now we’re midway through the third winter of little to no rain.
Towns like Bolinus which depends on its own private reservoir, has now placed a limit of 150 gallons of water per service connection per day. Which is, according to the Marin Independent Journal, about a single 15 minute shower or three loads of laundry. I’m trying to imagine my household of two teen-age boys and two adults getting by on 150 gallons of water.
I live in an area where most of my water comes from local wells and the rest comes out of the Russian River - which contains water taken out of the Eel River. The Eel River is much further to the North. A tunnel was built between the two rivers a few decades ago which at the time probably seemed like a good idea as there are more people (and thirsty agriculture) in the Russian River Watershed then there is in the Eel River Watershed. The tunnel would probably would be running at full flow today except that the salmon seemed to miss their water a few years back and a court order got invoked and the Eel River got to keep more of its water then it used to. Which still isn’t very much this year.
Now I know there are several areas around the country that hasn’t seen its fair share of rain lately. NOAA has a jim-dandy little map called the U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook. In addition to most of California and Nevada, it’s not looking good for Texas and Florida. I have friends in Georgia who helped me see just how bad it got around there for a while. But I live here, in this particular place.
My place is a transition zone between the urban San Francisco Bay basin and the Redwood and Douglas Fir forests to the north. Santa Rosa is the last big town (if you define “big” as large enough to support a Macy’s Department Store and other shopping mall accouterments) on Highway 101 heading north till the end of the road up in Washington somewhere. Its a great place to cultivate grapes. Chance are very good that if you are drinking or have drunk a California wine in the last month, it came from one of the vineyards around here. Think of it as very nicely enhanced and aged Russian River water.
Vineyards like water. Not just for keeping the grapes nice and plump but also for frost protection. If the leaf and flower buds break early, they can be killed by a late frost and an entire crop can be lost. One of the ways to fight frost damage is to spray the vineyard with water. Lots of water. Vineyard owners are potentially facing a tough decision this spring. Spend their water budget on frost protection and lose a significant amount of the crop in dry August or let the buds freeze but have water for whatever manages to survive later.
The local dairy farmers are also in trouble. It seems that cows like to drink water and the local ponds are drying up. They already have problems with the price for milk dropping while the cost of feed goes up (linked to the cost of oil & bio-fuels, surprised?). Many of them would be happy to sell the business or even the cows but there aren’t any buyers.
In this globally interconnected world please consider this pending reality: Since California is the world’s fifth largest supplier of of food and agriculture commodities, our lack of water is about to show up in your grocery bill. We may not be able to send out out ships brimming with strawberries, trucks full of tomatoes, and railroad cars of rice this year. What does get grown will probably be commanding the best price it can in a recessional marketplace. Think of it as sharing our drought.
On the other hand it could suddenly start raining in the next two months and we’ll all be spared the worst of the possibilities.
For at least this year.
You never know.
Anitra Kitts lives, gardens, writes, and occasionally preaches in Northern California. She is a Candidate for the Ministry of the Word and Sacrament under care of the Presbytery of the Cascades and Graduate of San Francisco Theological Seminary (M.Div. 06).
Speaking of supermarkets and freshness of the food they're are selling -> http://www.itssucky.com/fresh_food_from_supermarkets/ Beware ;)
Posted by: Kira | May 02, 2009 at 10:50 AM