Vineyards sucking us dry...

A new vineyard just went in across the street from my house. Paul Hobbs has another that'll be planted this spring next to the 5 campuses near Apple Blossom School. Twin Hills ranch will now have 100% vineyards on the property. That's just three within a 3 mile radius. But all across this county (and state), new vineyard installation remains unchecked by County Supervisors or the Ag Commission. What's this all mean?

Read the article below in the press Democrat.

Instead of asking us to cut back, how about a moratorium on new vineyard development particularly, in a drought situation?

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/articl...cles/140109653

I just finished reading the following:


https://www.centralvalleybusinesstim.../001/?ID=24967

Central Valley ground water wars may head to court

Stanislaus County and several farming and ranching operations in the Central Valley county could find themselves in court over water wells.A citizens group calling itself Protecting Our Water and Environmental Resources says it has hired an attorney who has sent a demand letter and notice of intent to sue to Stanislaus County and 16 entities recently granted 59 permits by the county to construct wells allowing extraction of large volumes of groundwater.

The complaint says the county is issuing well permits without first doing the environmental review required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). It contends there can be significant environmental impacts from widespread increases in groundwater extraction.

The letter asks that the county immediately agree to do CEQA environmental review of all new and pending well permit applications and that the permits recently issued to the 16 permit holders named in the letter be revoked. It says the permit holders must agree to environmental review before re-approval.

If the requests are not agreed to, the group says it plans to file a lawsuit or lawsuits on or before Jan. 22.

I have a vague recollection that California and Texas are the only two states that have excessively lax laws on well water.

The issue has hit many Sonoma County residents very hard in the last 15 years or so because their well water has been depleted and there is little or no water pressure anywhere in their houses. And getting a pump or a generator does not solve their problem. For many folks, all or almost all of their well water has been exhausted and in many areas it takes 30 years for nature to replenish the aquifers. These local residents have to spend plenty of money, time, and work just to haul in purchased water from the store or from any other source. Most basic things like taking a shower are out of the question. This also impacts the value of their homes when they want to sell because nobody wants to buy a home that does not have running water.

While it is easy to blame vineyards for 'sucking us dry,' we should not overlook animal agriculture as THE LARGEST consumer of fresh water resources. E.g. while it takes about 800 liters of water to make one liter of wine, it takes over 1000liters of water to make one liter on cow's milk, over 3000liters of water to make 1kilogram of dairy cheese, over 4000liters of water to make one kilogram of chicken meat, and over 15,000 liters of water to make 1kilo of beef (some of which comes from dairy cows).

If we are going to be (rightfully) angry at the things that are depleting resources to the detriment of current and future generations, let's be sure we are angry at the right things i.e. our anger is directed at the things that will make the biggest difference immediately. After all, most people consume more animal products on any given day than they consume wine.

Source: https://www.waterfootprint.org/?page...productgallery

Fascinating stats Kamal.

The thing about wine is it's not food...or necessary (not to even address the fact that many folks have issues with managing their alcohol intake). Perhaps if all of us converted to alcohol-free, lacto-vegetarian or vegan lifestyles in times of drought, we'd be better off?

At the very least, we're all in this situation together. We ALL need to take responsibility for our personal, landscaping, and agricultural water use and not waste it.

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Posted in reply to the post by kamal:

While it is easy to blame vineyards for 'sucking us dry,' we should not overlook animal agriculture as THE LARGEST consumer of fresh water resources. E.g. while it takes about 800 liters of water to make one liter of wine, it takes over 1000liters of water to make one liter on cow's milk, over 3000liters of water to make 1kilogram of dairy cheese, over 4000liters of water to make one kilogram of chicken meat, and over 15,000 liters of water to make 1kilo of beef (some of which comes from dairy cows).

If we are going to be (rightfully) angry at the things that are depleting resources to the detriment of current and future generations, let's be sure we are angry at the right things i.e. our anger is directed at the things that will make the biggest difference immediately. After all, most people consume more animal products on any given day than they consume wine.

Source: https://www.waterfootprint.org/?page...productgallery

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Animal foods aren't necessary to live a happy, healthy life either, and it could be argued that 'many folks have issues with managing their' animal food intake.

I completely agree that we need to take responsibility of our personal choices, i.e. we need to "be the change we seek in the world."

Perhaps moderation is the key here?

I do not believe that everyone must become vegan or that we need to completely eliminate the consumption of animal products, such as eating beef. But we do need, as soon as possible, to significantly reduce consumption of animal products. For example, if we reached a goal of cutting by 50% the consumption of all animal products, that would probably solve most of the problems surrounding this issue, including that of water usage.

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Posted in reply to the post by Mudwoman:

Fascinating stats Kamal.

The thing about wine is it's not food...or necessary (not to even address the fact that many folks have issues with managing their alcohol intake). Perhaps if all of us converted to alcohol-free, lacto-vegetarian or vegan lifestyles in times of drought, we'd be better off?

At the very least, we're all in this situation together. We ALL need to take responsibility for our personal, landscaping, and agricultural water use and not waste it.

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Just watched a story on KTVU tonight about how the draught is impacting Sonoma County vineyards, how the ground is so dry, when it should be deep, wet muck, and how low the Russian River is. Of course, absolutely no mention of how the vineyards contribute to their own misfortune simply by growing what they do. One of the guys interviewed said "Well, if we have to, we'll dig more wells to give us the water we need".

Something to remember as the water table continues to drop, the rest of us on wells have to pay to have our wells dug deeper, and fish, wildlife and the little people are impacted.

:heart::Yinyangv:

Cider today! Cider tomorrow! Cider forever!

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Posted in reply to the post by Ted Pole:

Cider today! Cider tomorrow! Cider forever!

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Water today! Water tomorrow! Water forever!

I'm reminded of a conversation I had back in the late 70s, at a Rainbow Gathering in Oregon at which it rained day after day. I was huddled in a tent with a few others listening to the downpour, and a guy said "Wouldn't it be great if it rained cocaine instead of water!"

To which I responded, "If it rained cocaine instead of water, we'd be putting up tents to keep the cocaine off us and paying fifty bucks a gram for water." (Of course, that remark was more about human consciousness than it was about either cocaine or water.)

Anyway, as the saying goes, "You don't miss your water 'til your well runs dry".