Yes I know guac costs extra

PART II- AGRICULTURE

The plants are thirsty

How heavenly! Source: Mouthy Mag

For me nothing is a better snack that chips, salsa and most importantly guacamole! But if your produce is coming from the USA chances are you're eating Californian avocados, tomatoes, limes, onions, etc... The Californian agriculture industry is roughly around $45 BILLION (Choy and McGhee 2014). That's almost a quarter of America's produce production (San Jose Mercury News 29/03/14). How can one state grow that much??? For those non-Americans California is a massive state at almost 500,000 square kilometers! Look below for a map comparison with the UK:

Such a tiny island. Outline of the UK against Cali. Source: Travelers' Digest

California needs a lot of water to maintain our Pico de Gallo obsession! But with less water available farmers have had to tap further and further into the ground to get it. Groundwater depletion monitoring over such a large area is hard to do! Famiglietti et al. (2011), focusing on satellite data from 2003-2010, found that the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins lost 30.9 cubic kilometers of water and the Central Valley lost 20.3 cubic kilometers of groundwater. It was clear that this rate of depletion was unsustainable when the paper was published but mother nature has a way of making things even messier for the Southwest. California has been in a drought-like state for the past 3 years!

"'Cause I'm burning up, burning up for you baby." Systematic Cali drought. Source: Telegraph 28/10/14

To save the agricultural industry more groundwater is used during drought, but after 3 years the state is drying quickly! Californians rely 60% on groundwater during drought years, compared to just 29% in a normal year (Choy and McGhee 2014). So how do farmer's do it? Are the costs of well drilling less than potential loses? Let's focus in on the Central Valley. Farmers now have to dig 1000+ feet below at a cost of over $300,000 per well to reach the aquifers (Dimik 2014). That's quite a price tag yet despite this farmers have been paying up! But the Central Valley is still expected to lose $1.7 BILLION from this drought (Choy and McGhee 2014). It appears that farmers will lose out either way!

The problem is multiplied by a lack of governmental structure to prevent groundwater loses! People are free to use the water under their land in California and there's no legislation against this. Look at the increases in well permits for the Central Valley in recent years:

Hopefully all the Jacks and Jills won't fall in. California well water permits. Source: San Jose Mercury News 29/03/14

Some legislation has been proposed to limit the amount of wells and protect the groundwater resources but its unlikely to come into effect (or voted on) until the 2020s (Washington Post 06/08/14)! Yet even with regulation, the environment may not benefit more than the farmers lose out (Grantham et al. 2013). The farming industry is constantly scrutinized for using too much water or not using enough to keep the industry afloat.

It's clear the California we love is dependent on its agricultural economy. Yet it's also clear the rate of groundwater depletion to sustain this economy is unreasonable and furthers the state's water insecurity. While we love avocados and apples and wine if groundwater depletion continues in this way the entire agricultural industry could collapse dramatically changing Californian, American and global society. We need to work towards a more sustainable water usage system in the Southwest as less and less water is expected to arrive.