Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/267019
ers need to prepare for a poten- tially significant drought year," said California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) secretary Karen Ross at the beginning of 2014. "We are looking at scenarios in which considerable land fallowing and unsustainable groundwater over- draft will occur, leading to direct impacts within our rural farming communities." Groundwater pumping makes up about 40% of California's annu- a t e r s u p p l y a n d d e m a n d issues, and competition for scarcer water resources, con- front California agriculture and the state's wine and grape industry. Calendar year 2013 was the driest on record for many California loca- tions, with reservoir and ground- water levels reaching historic lows. Drought conditions, likely to contin- ue in 2014, exacerbate water-supply problems. "California's farmers and ranch- al water supply on average, and is higher during drought years. Agri- culture uses 70% of the water supply in California. As a result of drought and reduced deliveries from the state water system, more wells and deeper wells are being drilled. Even with improvements in irriga- tion system efficiencies, groundwa- ter overdraft is occurring in many areas. Ground subsidence, includ- ing ground collapse, has occurred in parts of the San Joaquin Valley. BY TED RIEGER, SENIOR FEATURE EDITOR 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 2003/ 04 2004/ 05 2005/ 06 2006/ 07 2007/ 08 2008/ 09 2009/ 10 2010/ 11 2011/ 12 2012/ 13 Inches Drought, Groundwater Overdraft Force Changes in Paso Robles Vineyards Water metering, efficient irrigation now critical in California Paso Robles' annual rainfall is 14.33 inches. According to City of Paso Robles data, rainfall for the 2012/13 year (measured from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013) was just 7.18 inches. ANNUAL RAINFALL TOTALS IN THE CITY OF PASO ROBLES 5 4 V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T | M a r - A p r 2 014 w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m