Water Purchases on the Open Market in Coalinga, California, as a State Capitol Crisis Drives Farmers Effort to Survive

Miles of brittle, uprooted almond trees lay dead on their sides on parched farmland in Coalinga, California, as an intensifying drought, new restrictions and skyrocketing water prices are forcing farmers to sacrifice their crops. Roadside signs warn against watering front lawns as residents brace for higher water bills as the precious resource disappears.

Coalinga usually gets its water through an aqueduct which runs from the San Luis Reservoir, about 70 miles northwest of the city. As a result of the high water levels in the area, the US Bureau of Reclamation reduced the amount of water they provided to Coalinga by 80% this year.

The restriction left Coalinga short about 600-acre feet of water through March 2023, which is nearly 200 million gallons, and the equivalent of about 300 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Officials turned to the open market to make up the difference when the city was on the verge of running out of water. The purchase from the California public irrigation district was finalized last week.

The city’s price tag for life’s most basic necessity was roughly $1.1 million dollars. Adkisson tells CNN the same amount of water used to cost $114,000.

The water price in the state has gone from $200 to more than $1,000 since the beginning of the year, according to the Veles California Water Index.

“I was just floored,” Adkisson said of their water purchase. “I could not believe they could sell water at that price — but that was actually a cheap rate, that’s the cheapest rate we found.”

The community is poor, Adkisson said. “These people out here that you see walking by, driving by, cannot afford a 1,000% increase in their water bills.”

This is the first time Coalinga has had to buy water on the open market. There is concern that the West will become financially unsustainable as the climate crisis progresses because water can be sold to the highest bidder.

Farmers Deedee and Tom Gruber told CNN their water allocations have decreased to amounts insufficient to grow their 11 crops, which include thirsty walnuts and almonds. The water required to grow walnuts would cost them $400,000, according to the Grubers.

As much-needed winter storms alleviate drought conditions in California and southern parts of Oregon, the deluge of snow and rain in the West largely missed Central Oregon, leaving Crook, Jefferson and Deschutes counties dry. And many of the farmers in this area don’t have priority rights to the water – putting their farms at heightened risk of failure.

A Democrat, Hurtado represents part of California’s southern Central Valley and has been listening to farmers’ stories about how they’ve been affected by high water prices.

In an August letter, Hurtado and a bipartisan group of California legislators urged the US Justice Department to investigate “potential drought profiteering.” Hurtado thinks there could be price gouging in western states.

In an email response to Hurtado’s letter, the Justice Department said in October the complaint was “forwarded to the appropriate legal staff for further review.” The agency declined comment to CNN on what if any investigative actions it might take.

Oregon farmers and ranchers dealt with water shortages during the worst megadrought in the U.S. during the 2021 drought peak

Cate Casad started noticing the for-sale signs pop up over the last year on farms around Central Oregon, which has been mired in water shortages amid a yearslong megadrought.

Casad and her husband, Chris, are first-generation farmers and ranchers who started off with just a few acres of land east of Bend, then moved north in 2017 to scale up their farm. Now, the couple manages around 360 acres of farmland in Jefferson County, where they grow organic food and raise cattle, heritage breed hogs and pastured chickens.

They made a difficult decision to stop growing potatoes because of the impact of the weather on their crop, taking nine years to build a market for them.

Casad told CNN that it was devastating. We think that this year will be the same as last year, when it was the worst year yet.

The western part of the US was at the peak of exceptional drought in the summer of 2021, the worst designation in the US Drought Monitor. Comprising 10 states — every state in the West except Wyoming — this designation covered one-quarter of all the land.

Oregon state climatologist Larry O’Neill said Crook missed out on a full year’s worth of rain over the last three years and “by several different measures” has seen the worst drought in Oregon’s recorded history.

In 2021, reservoir levels in Central Oregon began to drop. Half of the capacity of Crescent Lake was used up that year, which was the lowest level ever. The junior water right holders like Sakari Farm were made to face water cuts that year.

Crawford explained that the sale of livestock has caused a negative effect on the bottom line for the ranchers and farmers. In addition to the issues that farmers and ranchers deal with, our rural residents are needing assistance in well-deepening and water quality.”

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/04/us/oregon-drought-water-shortages-farming-climate/index.html

Water Shortages of Sakari Farm in Deschutes County, Oregon, Amid Oregon Megadrought, and Native-Immigrant Alaskan Native Tribe Member Spring Alaska Schreiner

After weeks of urging from local officials, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek in mid-February declared a state-level drought emergency for the counties, which could open the door for federal drought-relief funds.

Spring Alaska Schreiner, who is Inupiaq and a member of the Valdez Native Tribe of Alaska, bought a few acres in Deschutes County just 20 minutes outside of Bend in 2018.

During her first year of owning Sakari Farm, she was the victim of hail storms, so her tribal name is Upingaksraq. In 2020 the megadrought became more severe.

She told CNN that the climate had changed as soon as they got the farm. “We were seeing winters occurring later in the season. Right now, we are getting some snow. That is just weird, it is March almost.

“We can’t not water for a week because we had anywhere between 80 and 130 varieties of plants — it’s a very unique vegetable farm,” she said. “So, what we did was we started shutting off water in parts of the farm and we had to prioritize which crops to grow or to let die, basically.”

As of Friday, Crescent Lake was only 9% full. The region has received barely any precipitation in recent months and that is still having an impact on Schreiner’s farm. She said the farm has had to be creative in how it uses its water as well as how it distributes it’s food.

She plans to use the funding from the department of agriculture to bring about a change in the way her farm is operated to deliver more water directly to the roots of plants. She wants to put weather stations and water sensors on the farm so that they can collect data that will help improve plant growth.

“We’re doing everything we can this year, and there’s nothing else you can do,” Schreiner said. You just take more crops away and start making more money.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/04/us/oregon-drought-water-shortages-farming-climate/index.html

Water Problems in Crook County, Oregon, due to Century-old Water Laws and Ranchers: The Case for Oregon’s Senior Rights

“There are some days that weight can feel heavier than others,” Casad said. And while she attributes these dire water challenges to the drought, she also blames the century-old water laws.

Oregon’s water laws are based on how much land you claim first, with those that followed being the ones to get priority over those who didn’t.

“While we’re all experiencing drought, not all drought is equal due to this 100-year-old Western water law that’s been put in place and hasn’t been changed, and that’s serving people very inequitably,” Andrea Smith, agricultural support manager with High Desert Food and Farm Alliance, told CNN. It is a system we are dealing with, and there is a lot we have to change.

While Crook County may be driest county in Oregon, the system is such that junior water right holders like Casad and Schreiner, in Jefferson and Deschutes counties, get the short end of the stick.

Smith said that some of the Crook County ranchers did have senior rights that they were struggling with water scarcity. Casad said she has spoken with ranchers there who have had to haul water to their cattle because the springs have yet to fully return and make up for the yearslong water deficit.

As the climate crisis creates a hotter and drier future in the West, Casad said people need to start rethinking how land is managed, while preparing to make tough and painful decisions.

Farmers have always been incredibly resilient, Casad said. This is not the first time we have had to contend with crazy challenges.