Thousands of California Wells Drying Up

EXTREME WEATHER & CLIMATIC DISASTERS
DESERTIFICATION
EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT, WATER FAMINE
SINKHOLES, SUBSIDENCE
SOIL EROSION, LOSS OF TOPSOIL
DUST STORMS, MEGA LIGHTNING STORMS, DESTRUCTIVE WILDFIRES
MAJOR CROP DISASTERS
MULTIPLE STATES OF EMERGENCY
SCENARIOS 900, 808, 800, 555, 444, 311, 117, 111, 101, 100, 090, 071, 067, 010, 090, 04, 03, 02
.

California drought threatens fifth of U.S. milk supply

Exceptional drought continues to severely affect California’s dairy industry. The average dairy needs about 500,000 liters of water per day just to prevent its cows dying from thirst.

Lack of water also translates into lack of feed. The farmers have been forced to leave fallow more than a million acres of land.

Meantime, they are paying up to $350 a ton for alfalfa hay, nearly twice what they paid last year.

Additionally, many farmers are paying on average 10 times more for water for their animals and crops than they were a year ago, according to a spokeswoman for Fresno’s Westlands Water District.

In the absence of County water allocation, the cost of water in In Fresno has skyrocketed from to about $1,100 per acre-foot—about 325,851 gallons, or 1.23 million liters— compared $140 last year, said a report.

In Tulare, farmers are paying $1,200 to $1,800 per acre-foot, said the  executive director of the Tulare County Farm Bureau.

Meantime, the cost of milk continues to climb,  with a gallon of whole milk in Los Angeles priced at $3.79, a rise of 54 cents  since 2012, and $4.76 a gallon in San Francisco, up 89 cents, said the report.

“California has lost 1% to 2% of its dairy industry in the last three years, said Lesley Butler, a dairy economist at UC Davis. About 100 dairies go out of business every year waiting for rain.”

Gov. Brown has declared multiple states of emergency since January due to the worsening drought and signed an executive order in August to purchase drinking water for farmers with dry wells.

In April, 2014 FIRE-EARTH said:

Vital groundwater provides up to 60% of California’s water supply during droughts

California groundwater resources are at historically low levels, and recent groundwater levels are more than 100 feet below previous historic lows in some parts of the state, according to a recent report released by the California Department of Water Resources.

About 30 million Californians, over three quarters of the state’s population, receives at least part of their drinking water from groundwater, said California Water Foundation.

Groundwater is the only supply available for some regions during drought, and it’s critical to the state’s agricultural economy.

Drought causes water famine leading to crop disasters. It degrades water quality, and leads to surface and groundwater level declines, land subsidence, soil erosion, intense wildfires, humongous dust storms, and spread of disease.

Related Links

• Southern Sierra Loses Snow Cover May 27, 2014
• California’s Snow Story: Going, Going … May 21, 2014
• Calif SWEQ Drops to 0.6 Inch on May 20, 2014
• California Running Out of Snow May 17, 2014
• Severe – Exceptional Drought Plagues 100% of California May 16, 2014
• California Groundwater Levels 100 Feet Below Previous Historic Lows May 7, 2014
• Drought [Index Page]