need to add title here

Preview: Running Dry

December 23, 2009 9:24 AM

Lesley Stahl reports on California's severe water shortage and the debate on how to solve it. Sunday, Dec. 27, 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Add a Comment
by j-cox December 28, 2009 11:51 AM EST
What your report failed to point out is that the Dept of Water Resources (DWR) has commited to deliver 5 times the amount of water there is in a normal rainfall year.
Even with reduced water deliveries the large farms such as those run by Mr. Resnick (Paramount Farms) do not use the allotment they get, but find it more profitable to sell this water off than to grow crops with it!
The almond trees shown being destroyed were never suppose to be irragated by subsidized water, per their contracts with the DWR.
This is a very complicated and involved issue, that cannot be presented accurately in a 20 minute report, OR reduced down to a catch phrase such as "Fish vs. Farmers". If a catch phrase was to be used it should "Fish vs. Corporate Greed"!

Capt Jim Cox
Jim Cox Sport Fishing Charters
Reply to this comment
by woods55 December 27, 2009 8:09 PM EST
If we are that short on water, why are all the thousands of golf courses aloud to water every day? I work at a country club and the water is just wasted. How many golf courses are there in the United States? Seems to me the rich are still getting what they want while the farmers struggle. I would think they could use some of this water. We never seem to run short!!!!!!!!!
Reply to this comment
by sam9r December 27, 2009 6:57 PM EST
Most all water transported from northern California comes down the Sacramento River from mt. shasta and is used to flush out sewage from the delta that's from surrounding cities of the delta.The majority of that water goes out under the Golden Gate bridge. sadly, the farmers in central California are the onlt faction suffering.All rain in california is in the northern third ofthe state. With twenty million people in southern California we need to store more water and clean the delta.
Reply to this comment
by Waterwitch2010 December 27, 2009 2:02 AM EST
My site, highdesertpolitics.org discusses this story in great detail. It is a California favorite subject. It has nothing to do however with water Lesley. We live on the Pacific Ocean- where it should be a no brainer to desalinate water to solve all of our water needs. Water has become a commodity to sell, along with the $11.1 billion bond to build more canals, aqueducts, dams, and stupidity into our already bloated, bankrupt,budget. If you don't believe it is a commodity, just look at what Stewart Resnick of Roll International, a.k.a. Paramount Farms has done with it.
Reply to this comment
by mvelca December 26, 2009 5:39 PM EST
I is scary what is next with this drought.
Reply to this comment
by s_kruse December 24, 2009 1:18 PM EST
Industrial agriculture uses 80%+ of California water. The current moisture deficit is political, not climatic. Crops are frequently not climate-appropriate. The trees shown being removed were planted in the rain shadow of the coast range where there are no perennial streams, but instead are dependent upon water transported from the San Joaquin - Sacramento Estuary. The current "drought" is a political excuse for dam-building (without water). There is no recognition of limits - 38 million people and counting. Ground water is not adjudicated, anyone can stick another straw in the ground. The story is about denial, not shortages.
Reply to this comment
Recent Segments

60MinutesOverTime

60 Minutes Overtime is a weekly web show that begins where the weekly television broadcast ends
  • Building You a Better Morning

  • CBS This Morning

    "CBS This Morning," anchored by Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Erica Hill, airs weekdays from 7 to 9 a.m. ET and at the same time in other time zones.
    Learn more...