Cheap Water for Farmers

Your Oct. 16 article “Are Farms Wasting Water?” is a one-sided attack on farmers that does a disservice to your readers, the ultimate consumers of the water that we use to grow their food and fiber.

Although your article implies that I operate some kind of corporate shell game to evade federal reclamation law, I am a true family farmer in the Westlands Water District. I am part owner in seven partnerships along with my two sons and four adult grandchildren. Reclamation law has allowed my family to stick together and continue farming in this modern era of increasing government regulation, tight financing and unpredictable markets for our products.

By pooling our assets and talents we can compete by spreading risks and reducing costs, making use of the best available farming equipment and technology, especially in the area of irrigation. Water is our life blood. This water is neither cheap nor plentiful. This year our average Central Valley Project water rate is almost $50 an acre-foot and we can only buy half of what we need. Most crops such as cotton, tomatoes and garlic need a minimum of 3-acre feet of water to produce a crop. Our allocation of federal water is only 50% of the need to produce these crops. We are getting by by pumping well water for the balance of our needs that costs in excess of $100 per acre-foot. This raises our overall water cost to about $80 an acre-foot. This water cost is approximately 25% of the expense of growing one of these crops; believe me, we conserve every drop that is possible to save.

DICK ANDERSON, Huron, Calif.