Central Coast farmers say conservation is key as groundwater dwindles

California’s rainy season comes to an end this Monday spanning from October though March. As many know, rainfall is crucial for farmers in the Salinas Valley.

Since January 1st of this year the Salinas airport has recorded just over three and a half inches of rain, when the normal total for this date should be over seven inches

Today, Central Coast News caught up with Michael Cahn who is a farmer advisor for irrigation and water resources and he told me what farmers have been doing to conserve the water they have.

Cahn said, a drip tape applies water every eight inches in a very controlled amount, right near where most of the roots of the plants are. If the tape is managed correctly it can apply water really uniformly in a field and growers can use less water.

Since the importance of not overusing water in a drought situation is common sense to farmers, Cahn said farmers rely on winter rains to keep the natural Salinas Valley reservoir filled. If rain totals fall short for years and years farmers will face another problem

“The long term effects are we continually get more sea water intruding into the aquifer,” stated Kahn.

In times of drought, it’s back to the drawing board to conserve as much as possible.

Senator Anthony Cannella, today, said lawmakers hear the concerns in Sacramento. He said there are seven different water bonds on the table which will eventually be combined into one for the November ballot.

Senator Cannella advocated the importance of water storage for his bond and the importance of conservation now and preparation for the future

Cannella today stated, “Only more rain will help now nothing but conservation will help now. We should learn from this and store more water because that does help buffer the droughts.”