Feds Block Water For State-Legal Marijuana Grows

[RainDog]

More Federal Agency pushback toward states that have both legal recreational AND medical marijuana laws. When you can't override the will of the voter at the ballot box, you do it through other means. Local agencies contract with federal water projects to obtain water for their counties.

Again, Congress needs to address this issue. If they want to force states to adhere to law that makes no sense, they need to be upfront about it - especially in an election year. Tell parents of children with epilepsy you want to put them in jail and deny them the right to choose the best medication for their children because... reefer madness.

Don't hide behind federal agencies because you know the American people don't support you.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/20/marijuana-water-use_n_5359654.html

An agency (U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees management of federal water resources) within the U.S. Department of the Interior announced Tuesday that state-legal marijuana grows are banned from using federal water on their crops.

"Certainly every indication we are hearing is that their policy will be that federal water supplies cannot be used to grow marijuana,” said Brian Werner at the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, which handles approximately one-third of all water for northeastern Colorado and is the Bureau of Reclamation's second-largest user in terms of irrigated acres.

Washington's Roza Irrigation District, which supplies federal water to approximately 72,000 acres in Yakima and Benton counties, had already issued a "precautionary message" in early April to water customers who may be involved in state-legal cannabis growing back.

"Local irrigation districts operating federal irrigation projects have recently been advised that under Federal Reclamation Law, it is likely project water cannot be delivered and utilized for purposes that are illegal under federal law," wrote Roza district manager Scott Revell in letters to the Yakima and Benton county commissioners. "Presumably growing marijuana would fall into this category."

[frazzled]

1. Hey, water is a REAL issue, especially in the West

And with California's drought settling in for a long, hot summer, that's bad news for ecosystems that rely on the state's increasingly scarce surface waters—including the once-prolific Northern California salmon run. A recent article in the Mendocino County Press Democrat shows just how dire things have gotten in the state's pot-farm-heavy "Emerald Triangle" (Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity counties).

A pot plant consumes six gallons of water every day.

The piece looks at a forthcoming study from the California Fish and Wildlife Department on three key Emerald Triangle watersheds. Using satellite imagery, the researchers found that pot cultivation had skyrocketed in the areas since 2009, rising between 75 percent and 100 percent. The three watersheds contain an average of 30,000 pot plants each, they found. (Here's a nifty map). And they're thirsty. According to the Press Democrat, "Researchers estimate each plant consumes 6 gallons of water a day. At that rate, the plants were siphoning off 180,000 gallons of water per day in each watershed—all together more than 160 Olympic-sized swimming pools over the average 150-day growing cycle for outdoor plants."

Mind you, that's just in the three watersheds the researchers looked at. According to the Press Democrat, there are more than 1 million pot plants in Mendocino alone—not counting legal ones licensed for the medical market.

Already, the region's salmon tributaries are under severe pressure—as many as 24 went dry last year, the Press Democrat reports. And even without the drought, there just isn't enough water available to keep the pot crop humming and the salmon moving along, state Fish and Wildlife Senior Environmental Scientist Scott Bauer told the paper.

And water diversions aren't the only vice indulged in by large-scale pot growers. Last year, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board listed a few others, including land-grading and dam-making that leads to stream-clogging erosion; wanton use of pesticides—most egregiously, wildlife-killing rat poison; and "discarding of trash and haphazard management of human waste."

http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2014/04/your-pot-habit-sucks-salmon

[TeamPooka]

2. your stats are wrong a plant does not consume 6 gal every day

unless its a giant redwood.

[RainDog]

4. I looked up responses to that 6 gal claim

This is what someone noted -The plant would have to be 8+ ft. tall, with a 2-3 in. diameter trunk at the base, branched heavily. Hindu kush type. One that would yield 3 - 4 lbs. of bud at harvest. And this would only be in the last month to five weeks of its 6 - 7 month life.

Cannabis originated in dryer climates - the growers I read said people "stress" the plants by withholding water toward the end to encourage more trichomes (that produce THC)

I can't address this b/c I don't know - but people noted no one uses 6 gallons of water for a tomato plant - and this would not be the case for mj, either (which uses less water than tomatoes.)

[RainDog]

3. Growers should install water collectors from air

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/this-tower-pulls-drinking-water-out-of-thin-air-180950399/?no-ist

...in fact, I don't know why drought-prone states don't do this.

No doubt it's a problem - that would be partially solved by more outdoor grows - so that plants at least get the benefit of natural conditions rather than grow spaces.

One more reason, tho, for places with deciduous landscapes and more water to see an opportunity - but they won't, of course.

But the places where mj originated from are not places with a lot of rainfall. (i.e. Central Asia meaning Afghanistan). It's modern growing techniques that demand so much water.