There is hope that the unfortunate conditions of California’s water supply this year will prompt decisive action on water management and storage. President and CEO of Western Growers, Dave Puglia noted that his conversations with growers have been disheartening. There is significant concern that if California gets another dry year, many farmers will not be able to recover. The dire circumstances of the current water year underscore the imperative need for an updated approach to water management.
“I hope that this experience, as tough as it is, refocuses the attention of California’s political leadership and elected leadership to get serious about infrastructure. We keep talking about it, but too little has happened,” Puglia noted. “We need to build more storage, but we also need to revamp our regulatory approach to managing water infrastructure so that we utilize our infrastructure to its fullest capacity. We’re not even doing that now.”
Listen to the radio report below.
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