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Over the past several years there have been reoccurring claims that California’s water rights are over-appropriated and that the water rights system does not work. This erroneous claim is made by those who simply add up all of the water rights maintained by the State Water Resources Control Board and state that they total more than the available water supplies in the state and therefore they are over-appropriated.

The Yuba Salmon Partnership Initiative is a collaboration between the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries), Yuba County Water Agency (YCWA), American Rivers, Trout Unlimited and California Sportfishing Protection Alliance to return spring-run Chinook salmon and possibly steelhead to more than 30 miles of the North Yuba River. Deep, cool pools on this stretch of the river provide ideal habitat for a species that summers in mountain streams before spawning in the fall.

In California we are blessed with a stunning geography and 39 million people who depend on and enjoy this landscape every day. This geography depends upon water to support every part of the state. The attached info-graphic shows how water is used in California during an average year. Importantly, we dedicate water in California to all of these purposes, with nearly 49 percent for the aquatic environment, 41 percent to produce food and clothing that are an integral part of our everyday life, and about 10 percent for our amazing cities and urban landscapes.

by: Karen Ross Secretary of CA Food and Agriculture This was originally posted in the Modesto Bee. A recent survey by the Farm Water Coalition indicated that 41 percent of California’s irrigated farmland will lose 80 percent of its surface water in 2015 due to cutbacks because of the drought. Add that to a reduction … Continue reading “Secretary Karen Ross: What happens to ag water? Eventually, people eat and drink it”