As California’s drought persists, a growing awareness of scarcity in the state’s urban regions has put agricultural water use under the political microscope.
At the beginning of April, Gov. Jerry Brown ordered cities to cut their water use 25 percent, at the same time further exposing the tensions between competing demands (Greenwire, April 2).
Federal and state officials are taking pains to defend the agriculture industry. Earlier this week in Reno, Nev., drought experts discussed how to counter the public perception that agriculture is getting off easier than the rest of the state.
Ann Mills, the Agriculture Department’s deputy undersecretary for natural resources and environment, said she had been spending “the better part of my days and some nights” working on correcting the “misperception that bubbled up” after Brown issued his executive order.