NGA Water Report- May 2002
Mike
Proffitt, El Modeno Gardens … Water committee chair
As we are all in the midst of spring and trucks are rolling
I will be brief in my report.
Some good news is to continue to hear that the rain and snow
is still falling in the Sierra Mountains. Most all reporting
stations are reporting well over 100% of the states water needs
for this year. On a less than positive note there are several
communities in southern California that are starting to implicate
stage two water rationing. Most of these cities are in our local
mountain areas. They, like the rest of southern California have
only received approximately one-third of their annual precipitation.
On the political scene we are still facing two bills in our
state congress that could impact the nursery industry negatively.
They are the Pavley Bill and Brulte Bill. Both are dealing with
evapotransporation (ET) levels within the landscape. It seems
both bills were dead but have been rekindled due to some information
presented by members from the CLCA.
Both bills deal with lowering the ET rating from .8 to .6.
It is NGA's position that neither bill is acceptable and we
want to be proactive in defeating these or any such water bills
in the future. Thus we are contacting other nursery groups to
contest these bills. The C.A.N. along with the Council for a
Green Environment, the Farm Bureau, and CLCA all are being contacted
to ask for their support in defeating these two legislative
items.
Other outside groups have also joined our cause. The Association
of Realtors, the Business Property Association, and even some
of the states smaller water districts oppose these bills.
Within the next few days we hope to have an information sheet
out to all our members explaining our stand and what you as
members as well as what our organization can do to STOP the
bills from going forward.
Please stay tuned for further developments.
Now it is back to that spring shipping I had mentioned above.
Please remember any and all comments are welcome.
Mike Proffitt
