- After a three year drought, and historic storm trends across Central California this past year, water is a plenty.
- The video shows the Shafter-Wasco Irrigation Districts recharge ponds are nearly full creating a surplus for farmers in the district and the cities of Shafter and Wasco.
- The District's General Manager Kris Lawrence says right now, the excess water from this past year is mostly sitting in recharge ponds around the district, which help to recharge the ground water in the area.
- Though the increase in water this year is proving beneficial to water providers and farmers moving forward, it has had negative impacts in the immediate such as crop production.
If you've driven down Kimberlina Road, east or west, you've likely driven past right where I'm standing and not even knowing what you're looking at. Where I'm standing is one of the recharge ponds for the Shafter-Wasco Irrigation District and after a particularly wet weather year, as you can tell behind me, things are looking pretty good.
At this stage, the district has a surplus of water, but just over a year ago things weren’t looking great.
“All the forecast was showing. It was just going to be another dry year," said Kris Lawrence, the district's general manager. "My dad is a immigrant from Sri Lanka, and I never got to learn the language, but there's one phrase I always remember, and it was 'Dayo Danhyi' it means 'God knows.' That's the the only person who knows what's going to happen with the weather.”
In conversation with a farmer who has land that operates within the district, he said he’s excited about the surplus of water through this years and hopes to see it stick around for next year, and hopefully the year after. According to Lawrence, the sentiment he’s heard has been similar and noted by stashing the water they have now will only bolster the region’s defense against a future drought.
“The simplest answer is gratitude. You know, everybody's grateful for the water," said Lawrence. "When these wet years come around and, and we're able to not only meet the demand of this year, but then, you know, take this year's demand and put that in the ground for another dry year, that's going to come in the future. I think everybody recognizes that. Um, you know, ultimately it's going to increase the, the stability of farming in the area.”
Though the water situation is currently better than it was, Lawrence did say he’s cognizant of other negative factors for growers in the region.
“Crop prices are down. The cost of gas is so high that all the operational costs have gone up. So, you know, years ago, all that stuff was fine and we had a water problem, and now the water problem is doing a lot better, but all of these other issues have come up. So really, you know, the overall situation for the average grower is still pretty intense.”
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