Obama urged to see water-starved Valley

Posted at 09:51 PM on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009

Community activists and Valley politicians are stepping up their efforts to bring national attention to the area's water shortage -- pleading Tuesday for President Barack Obama to visit the drought-plagued farmlands.

Members of the California Latino Water Coalition, several local mayors and two Valley congressmen -- Reps. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, and Jim Costa, D-Fresno -- gathered Tuesday on an outdoor basketball court in Mendota to announce the invitation.

The backdrop: A food line. Nearly 500 people also were in Rojas-Pierce Park to receive donated food. Among them was Mendota resident Maria Zermeno, who had her own request for Obama: "Please help us get back to work."

Members of the coalition have sent a letter signed by 50 Central Valley mayors asking the president to visit the area and help find a solution to its water shortages.

Although White House officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday, Mario Santoyo, a coalition member, was optimistic about the request.

"We have been in contact with Cabinet-level staff who are helping us line up a preliminary meeting," Santoyo said. "There is clearly interest, so now it is just a matter of time to let the process work. We remain very hopeful we can make this happen."

A Cabinet official -- U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar -- was at California State University, Fresno, in June for a hastily organized summit on the San Joaquin Valley's water crisis. But Obama has yet to visit the area.

Actor and comedian Paul Rodriguez, the coalition chairman, said he hopes that Obama will understand the problems facing farmers and workers in rural communities struggling with double-digit unemployment rates, poverty and hunger.

"This is a tragedy, that in the richest agricultural region in the world, you have people waiting in line for food," Rodriguez said. "We feed the world, but come next spring, we will hardly be able to feed ourselves."

Rodriguez appeared via a live remote Tuesday evening on Fox News' Sean Hannity show, along with Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia.

Below-average rainfall, court decisions and environmental protections have led to a significant decrease in irrigation water to farmers. Thousands of acres of farmland have been fallowed, and hundreds of workers are without jobs or are working less.

Coalition members want state and federal officials to ease environmental restrictions that can pinch supplies of irrigation water to the Valley. They also want funding for alternatives that would prevent fish from being sucked into Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta pumps. Protecting threatened delta smelt has curtailed some irrigation deliveries south of the delta to Valley farmers.

Congressional leaders said they are frustrated with the failure of state and federal officials to provide a balanced approach to water delivery in California.

"If this crisis happened in San Francisco, it would be declared a disaster," said Radanovich. "People in Sacramento and Washington would be waiving environmental laws left and right."

Costa said that unless a torrential rainstorm fills reservoirs, farmers and their workers are living on "borrowed time."

"We are fighting for a way of life," Costa said.

The Obama invitation comes on the heels of other attempts to bring attention to the water shortage. Farmers and their supporters held a four-day march from Mendota to the San Luis Reservoir in April. The event drew thousands, as did a rally at Fresno City Hall in July.

In the food line Tuesday, Zermeno said her husband has worked sporadically this summer. He was laid off from his job as a tractor driver two years ago and has not found steady work since.

"He keeps looking, but he can't find anything right now," Zermeno said. "We are three months behind in our house payment, and I worry about what will happen to us."

Zermeno received a two-week supply of food for her family as part of the food donation organized by the Community Food Bank in Fresno. It was the fourth food give-away the agency has held since July and the second in Mendota.

Agency officials expected to donate about 130,000 pounds of food Tuesday.

"As many people as we can serve, this is still not getting to enough people," said David Schecter, Community Food Bank board member. "This will not fill the tremendous need."