Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Better Science?

It’s great to be back writing Borrego Farm Corner again after a brief absence. Thanks to those of you who told me you missed seeing it.

Let me begin by saying that I’m glad the Borrego Water District partnered with the state Department of Water Resources to charge a panel of groundwater scientists to develop a plan for continued study of the Borrego aquifer. Last fall Representative Duncan Hunter asked BWD lobbyists how they knew there was a problem with the aquifer. The fact that no one was able to provide a convincing answer clearly highlighted to the BWD Board the need for more research.

So the BWD’s project is a positive step, and while the results may never be more than theoretical—that’s the nature of science—we may eventually gain a fuller understanding of the aquifer on which to base better water management decisions in the decades to come.

Here’s the problem. Even without the convincing evidence we are told we now need, a small clique of folks in Borrego who either have vested interests in controlling Borrego’s water or who have apparently never met a government regulation they didn’t like have already been busy for several years trying to incite alarm about a so-called water crisis in Borrego allegedly caused by local farmers. They have engaged in a campaign of half truths and sometimes personal attacks against farmers.

I believe that it has been unconscionably dishonest of the “government regulation clique” to scheme to undermine the integrity of local farmers and their right to pursue their livelihood in the valley without having adequate evidence that damage has been caused. Trying to use regulation to force someone from their property is not a trivial matter, and it should concern the entire community, not just farmers.

At the September 26, 2007 meeting of the BWD Board, Tim Ross of the Department of Water Resources (and a member of the BWD’s panel of scientists) argued persuasively that Borrego “produces some of the finest of California agriculture” and that farms have a legitimate long-term role in the valley. I agree.

No comments: