Another reason, besides the huge one of protecting Sacramento and the integrity of the Parkway, that building the Auburn Dam is the optimal public policy concerning water.
Water supply tops Christmas wish list
Western Farm Press Daily
Dec 22, 2006 9:53 AM
An adequate and dependable water supply tops the Christmas wish list for farmers and water district members of the California Farm Water Coalition, the state’s largest farm water organization.
A recent mailed survey asked Coalition members, representing nearly 5 million irrigated acres in California, to identify water issues according to: important, somewhat important, least important, or not important.
“Rather than forcing our members to rank the issues according to one, two or three, our survey allowed them to place multiple issues as most important if they could not decide between one or more issues,” explained Mike Wade, executive director.
An “adequate and dependable water supply” received a “most important” or “somewhat important” designation from 87 percent of the Coalition’s water district members and 85 percent from its farmer members.
Storage was the second leading issue for members with 78 percent of responding water districts saying it was “most important” or “somewhat important” while farmer members selected it 72 percent of the time. Protection and operation of the Delta was in the third spot for water districts and farmers opted for water quality issues as number three.
“It is not surprising that an adequate and dependable supply of water is the number one issue for those involved in farming,” Wade said. “Without water there is no farming and without farming there are no food and fiber products that California residents have come to rely upon.
