Friday, January 08, 2010

California's groundwater shrinking because of agricultural use

New data from satellites show the vast underground pools feeding faucets and irrigation hoses across California are running low, a worrisome trend federal scientists largely attribute to aggressive agricultural pumping. Hundreds of farmers have been drilling wells to irrigate their crops, as three years of drought and environmental restrictions on water supplies have withered crops, jobs and profits throughout the San Joaquin Valley, where roughly half of the nation's fruits, nuts, and vegetables are grown. Developers and cities dependent on the tight supplies also have joined the well-drilling frenzy as the crisis has deepened. The NASA mission represents the first attempt to use space-based technology to measure how much groundwater has been lost in recent years in California and elsewhere in the world...read more

Satellites will control your wells, your cattle will be herded by satellite, and 73 new taxes went into effect Jan. 1st. Happy New Year ag producers!

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