As California’s three-year drought continues with no end in sight, water-desperate farmers and agribusinesses in the state are getting creative – by drilling horizontal wells into neighboring Oregon and taking its underground water for themselves.
More than a dozen “aqua-fracking” wells, in which oil-powered machines drill vertically and then horizontally into the earth in order to reach the groundwater, have sprung up along the Oregon border within the past month. The wells go directly under the state border to take Oregon’s water, which is then sent 500 miles south to farms in California’s Central Valley.
The drought has badly affected the fertile Central Valley, where hundreds of diverse crops are grown, including half the United States’ nuts, vegetables and fruits. Organic food stores such as Whole Foods and Sprouts have already started raising the prices on produce, although it’s mostly because their customers insist on paying more.
One agribusiness company, OtnasnoM Inc. of Fresno, insisted there was no problem with drilling for Oregon’s water.
“What’s a state border, really, when we’re all part of the same country? One nation, one people,” a company spokesman said. “Besides, have you ever been to Oregon? It rains 24/7 there; we here in the Golden State need that water.”
Go west, then down deep
Farmers and agribusinesses, which consume about 93 percent of California’s water, have started drilling deeper into the earth for groundwater, since California until earlier this month didn’t have regulations on pumping water. A Kern County cotton agribusiness has drilled five 2,500-foot wells into the earth, each one as deep as two Empire State Buildings.
Another farmer in Merced County drilled a 2,800-foot well into his land in search of water and accidentally struck oil.
“I want water, dammit, not oil!” farmer Jed Clampett told local news as his water well sprayed geysers of oil. “What the heck am I gonna do with all this oil? I drive a damn Tesla.”
Drybacks
With the drought turning many cities of the Central Valley into a modern Dust Bowl, many water-desperate Californians have resorted to legally crossing the Oregon border in search of liquid nourishment.
Earlier this week, a Safeway in the border city of Ashland reported that in one day Californians had bought out its entire supply of water bottles and local craft beer, with India Pale Ale being a particular favorite.
Some Oregonians are already fighting back against their southern neighbor.
Medford resident Randall “Mac” McMurphy said he has taken action by organizing an armed group of local Oregonians who patrol Interstate 5 in an effort to discourage Californians from entering the state.
“Californians already come here and buy our cheap land, fill our jobs, gentrify our cities, and don’t even bother to pay our non-existent sales taxes,” a fuming McMurphy said. “Now they want our water? These dryback Californians should stay on their own side of the border.”
However, California remains defiant by doing too little, too late to properly reform its water system. At a press conference at the state Capitol yesterday, California Gov. Jerry Brown defended aqua-fracking as a valuable alternative.
“If it’s wrong to keep taking valuable water from the north and giving it to super-rich agribusinesses and developers in the south, then why are these companies giving me lots of money and telling me there’s no problem?” he said.
