cookiesinheaven

You can't make it any simpler than that in this agricultural area we call home. 
"Barbarians" need to take a good look around and see how we can conserve on our water usage.

Last year was one of the driest years on record in Santa Barbara County, with below-average rainfall and shrinking reservoir levels. Water agencies already are drawing comparisons to the 1987-1991-era drought, and say voluntary and mandatory conservation orders may be coming soon. 

The county is four months into its third dry water year, which started Sept. 1, with only 22 percent of the normal rainfall. Only one location — the U.S. Forest Service station on Figueroa Mountain — has had more than two inches of rain in that time, according to the county’s Public Works Department. 

Every reservoir is drying up, too, officials say. Lake Cachuma, which provides water to five water districts, was at 40.3-percent capacity as of Jan. 1 and many jurisdictions have started using more state water to supplement supplies. - Noozhawk

photo from, and more information at, Mission & State

Labels: conservation, drought, Santa Barbara, Water

California lawmakers are working on a historic plan — the first of its kind in the United States — to require a 20 percent reduction in per-capita urban water use by the year 2020. It signals the end of cheap water for water wasters, a change that's bound to come as a shock to some residents in the Golden State.

....Bob Wilkinson, a University of California, Santa Barbara professor who serves on the technical advisory committee for the California Water Plan, believes residents could easily achieve as much as a 30 percent reduction in just a few years.

"The No. 1 source for new water is urban water use efficiency," Wilkinson said. "It's not a sideshow, and it's important that people not think of this as a sacrifice. It wouldn't take draconian measures. We just need to get price signals in place to help people understand the real price and cost of water."

That's what's happening in Montecito, a wealthy community on the coast northwest of Los Angeles, where residents were paying three times as much for water as in Palmdale but didn't care about the cost because they could afford it. Newcomers who had no memory of the drought of 1986-91 tended to build big homes with big lawns.

While water demand flattened out in the rest of Southern California, including Los Angeles, Montecito's grew until it reached a local record in 2007 of more than 350 gallons per capita per day. That's one of the highest per capitas in the state, equivalent to that of people living in California's Sonoran Desert, near the border with Mexico.

"Everybody put in their lush landscaping," recalled Tom Mosby, the Montecito Water District general manager. "Money wasn't an issue. I would see trucks going up the street with sod and I was just having a heart attack."- Melinda Burns @ MillerMcCune

Labels: drought, Montecito, Santa Barbara, Water

...Here are some not-so-fun facts: California's agricultural sector grows approximately one-third of the nation's food supply and is nourished by diverted rivers and streams filled yearly by runoff from its prodigious sierra nevada snowpack, as well as groundwater pumping and other less-reliable methods. that snowpack -- which once sparked the first, but not the last, water war that helped transform a semi-arid Los Angeles into an unsustainable oasis less populous than only new york city -- is disappearing fast....

To make matters worse, a crushing drought, now well into its third year, has made simply everything problematic. In California's Central Valley, home to a majority of the State's agricultural output, farmers are leaving hundreds of thousands of acres fallow, and the resultant economic depression is having a domino effect that could cost California $1 billion to start and is causing residents of a one-time food powerhouse to go hungry. - Alternet

Labels: California, California Agriculture, Climate Change, drought, Global Warming, Los Angeles

Consumers may pay more for spring lettuce and summer melons in grocery stores across the country now that California farmers have started abandoning their fields in response to a crippling drought.

California's sweeping Central Valley grows most of the country's fruits and vegetables in normal years, but this winter thousands of acres are turning to dust as the state hurtles into the worst drought in nearly two decades. - AP via YahooNews

Labels: California Agriculture, drought, farmers, food supply

Labels: avocado, California, California Agriculture, drought

After two extremely dry years, CBS 5 has learned that California will drastically slash the amount of water it gives to districts statewide.

In what could be the worst crisis in Decades, the California Department of Water Resources tells CBS 5 it will cut supplies to water districts by 85 to 90 percent. - CBS5.com

Labels: California, drought, Water

Carl's Jr. restaurants are expanding their offerings of Guacamole Bacon Burgers, as the burger has been named the official burger of the upcoming California Avocado Festival.

The Guacamole Bacon Six Dollar Burger was added as a permanent menu item in 2003, and now, customers may order the burger in single, double or Six Dollar sizes. - LABizJournal

After decades of sustainable farming, he’s seen the power in working with nature rather than against her. So his trees thrive in all-natural compost. His farm creates energy rather than consumes it. And his continued research ensures that the land will stay lush and fruitful for generations to come.

In another life, Duncan worked in the high stakes field of investment banking. But Duncan longed for more; he wanted to work with his hands in the soil in search of fulfillment. Leveraging his opportunities, he moved into real estate, starting with the purchase of his father’s ranch in Carpinteria, California. He traded his high profile lifestyle for the satisfaction of farming Hand Grown in California Avocados.

In a move that will affect crop production across much of the region, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California plans to end its discount program for agricultural irrigation water. The move, expected to be approved in October, will open the door to increased water costs for many Southland farmers.

If adopted by the MWD board of directors, the proposal could reduce food production, as farmers struggle to pay higher water costs on top of soaring costs for fuel, fertilizer and other supplies. - California Farm Bureau Federation

Labels: avocado, burgers, competitions, drought, Festivals, Recipes, Water