Projected Water Shortages Threaten San Diego Nursery Industry

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published July 23, 2007 at 12:42 PM PDT

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

San Diego County farmers are worried water shortages will hurt the $1 billion nursery industry. That's because water exports from the Sacramento River Delta could be cut up to 40 percent next year. Th

San Diego County farmers are worried water shortages will hurt the $1 billion nursery industry. That's because water exports from the Sacramento River Delta could be cut up to 40 percent next year. The cutbacks are part of a proposal to protect endangered fish. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce has details.

The Delta supplies water to more than two-thirds of the state's population, including San Diego. San Diego County relies on imported water for roughly 90 percent of its drinking and agricultural supplies.

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San Diego County Farm Bureau Executive Director Eric Larson says local growers already are planning for less water next year because of dry conditions. He says more cutbacks means tough choices.

Larson : So growers will have to make a decision to discontinue watering a certain number of trees or planting smaller crops. And so we're worried that some of that could actually result in permanent loss of AG land in San Diego County.

A judge will decide next month on how best to protect the Delta smelt. It's expected that plan will include some interruption in water supplies, from six to 40 percent.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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