That is the message that the delegation from Israel delivered in a week of meeting and panel discussions designed to bring a better understanding of how we can do more to save California’s most valuable asset, water. The meetings took place over several days and touched on many subjects such as water measurement, water restrictions, groundwater and California agriculture production. The following statement was taken from Maven’s Notebook, and show the complexity of the issues and the progress that agriculture has made in the last decades.
California Secretary Ross speaking on the panel about the changes to California Agriculture says California agriculture has done a lot and continues to do a lot,” she said. “I know of no people who are more resilient than California farmers; they prove it over and over again. Compared to the applied water used in late 80s, early 90s, we are now using 8% less water, but the economic value of that is 96% more than it was. Our yields have improved 57%. It’s because of adaptation and resilience. We now have over 50% now under drip technology or precise irrigation technology. With the support of the Governor and the legislature, we are making investments on an annual basis to advance that precise irrigation technology, but there’s still more for us to do.”
Also participating in the meetings was State Water Board Chair Felicia Marcus who pointed out some basics about California public perception problems. “The majority of our population is hundreds of miles away from where their water comes from, it comes from a mix of different places, and it is a miracle in modern history that so many can take their water for granted and don’t know where it comes from. It is a miracle in modern society that so many can take their food for granted and don’t realize where it comes from, but it’s at cost. Because the public discourse about what we need to do to value agriculture, environment, and water is something that is a really huge hill for us to climb. … The flip side of that miracle is that we don’t have a basic sophisticated public discourse about the value of water.”
For the full article and the link to the panel discussion follow the link provided.
https://mavensnotebook.com/2016/09/13/israel-california-water-conference-the-challenge-Of-thinking-one-drop-aheadIsrael –California Water Delega(on meet to discuss water saving ideas n