Original Post at takepart.com By Todd Woody (7/15/14)
As California regulators vote to impose water rationing today, a new study estimates that the state’s epic drought will cost farmers $2.2 billion this year, while 17,100 agricultural workers will lose their jobs. But the worst may be yet to come.
“We’re in a critically dry this year,” said Jay Lund, a researcher at the University of California, Davis, and a coauthor of the report, at a press conference Tuesday. “There’s a very good chance next year will be dry or critically dry.”
Much of California’s $46 billion agricultural industry relies on rain and snowmelt for irrigation water delivered through a vast network of canals. With those supplies drying up, farmers have been pumping groundwater at a rapid clip to water their crops. The researchers estimate that groundwater may account for 53 percent of farmers’ water supply in 2014, up from 31 percent in a typical year.
