Monday, Jan 31 2011 5:16PM
Farmers in California's Central Valley are in need of more water services to properly care for their crops.
Some farmers in California's rural Central Valley are supporting a new water tax in order to fund a groundwater-recharge system that could increase their water supply, reported the Wall Street Journal.
However, local voters have rejected the tax, while newly elected members of the North San Joaquin Water Conservation District board insist they will not institute any new taxes, according to the newspaper.
"None of us likes to pay taxes. But this is our water," Tom Hoffman, a local grape farmer who supports the tax, told the paper.
Without a recharge system, farmers must pump water from the ground, which the article said is taking place faster than groundwater is replenished. However, the paper said Bryan Pilkington, the chairman of the North San Joaquin water board, claimed residents voted against the tax to express their frustration toward, "politicians who had tried to impose taxes against the voters' will."
Failure to install more water system services to assist the agricultural community may result in smaller harvests that could cause more farmers and their workers to lose their jobs. The California Employment Development Department reported unemployment in San Joaquin County reached 18 percent in December, significantly higher than the national average of 9.4 percent.