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Rural Water Joins Chorus

In the small rural farming town of Mendota, things have gotten so dire (unemployment soared to 45% in 1992) that residents have been known to steal groceries off the back of pick-ups while leaving tools and other more valuable items behind. Mendota is just one of many small communities up and down the Central Valley whose farms and ag support businesses have been hard hit by water cutbacks due to drought and regulation. To give this rural backbone of California a voice, a sizable group of farmers, local elected officials, ag advisors, social service agencies and others recently launched the Rural Water Impacts Network.

"We felt the debate between water users was too black and white," says the network's newly hired program director, Adrienne Alvord. "Big ag users and water districts, who have historically monopolized rural water policy discussions, haven't represented the interests of rural communities - we're just `third party impacts' to them." Alvord says what galvanized such a diverse group into action was general concern about the impacts of water transfers on the economies of local communities and small farmers concerns about effects on groundwater supplies (farmers selling their surface water allocations may overtap groundwater - a communal resource - to replace it).

According to Alvord, the network will be working to educate others about rural concerns in four primary policy areas: water reallocation and rural community health; watershed management; land use and urban sprawl; and ag drainage and reclamation reform. She says the network is also supporting research into two areas: how water transfers specifically have and could affect rural communities and how to encourage community development in ways that preserve the rural character of the valley. By way of example, she noted a recent proposal to start a community development fund based on a tiered system of water transfer fees for transfers that would promote both water conservation and save farm jobs.

"When you get the community involved in problemsolving, and when you encourage local entrepreneurial talent, that's when you get good results," she says.

Contact: Adrienne Alvord (916)756-8518

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