August 15,2015-
Terra Bella Irrigation District in southern Tulare County is a great place to grow citrus, but only if there is water.
”We find groves in Terra Bella ( beautiful land) enjoy a unique micro-climate and survives frost well” observes Sean Geivet, general manager of the district.
It is the home to about 400 small citrus farmers who at least until two years ago – had about 10,000 acres of citrus trees.
“We figure we have lost 50 to 60 percent of those groves due to lack of water in the past two years” he says.” “It’s pretty depressing.”
Unlike other districts around here, Terra Bella has virtually no ground water but depends on surface water delivered since the 1950s from the Friant Kern Canal.
Geivet says the district in a normal year would deliver around 20,000 acre feet of irrigation water to farmers. But last year due the drought – they got only 11,000 af with some creative trades and cash on the barrel head.
This year the district got only half that, about 5500 af.
Again this was through a water exchange where “there was enough money to make the water move” he figures.
With water that some have had “farmers have kept their most productive trees alive on a life support basis.”
Local farm manager Ed Chambers says he sees another grove bite the dust on a regular basis including some groves over 100 years old. “I counted 106 rings on the trunk of one the other day.”
Chambers says farmers here who have some water are paying more for it than their crop is worth.Chambers also farms in the Porterville area and has seen lots of his neighbors wells going dry. “They are reaching water at 150 feet when five years ago it was 25 to 30 feet.”
“The Porterville area, if it gets 12 inches of rain this winter, will survive” says Chambers since it they will get river water. “But not Terra Bella.”
“If the federal government does not supply water toTerra Bella – it will all just go away”
Part of the reason why Terra Bella has little good ground water is its proximity to the Deer Creek oilfield as hydrocarbons have migrated into the aquifers here.
While a number of the trees that have met the bulldozer are the out of fashion Valencia variety, Chambers says it has affected all citrus types.