Page 12 - SCG December 2015.indd

Impacts of Illegal Outdoor Marijuana Growing Operations
Water Usage By the Numbers
Although most of us never come in contact with illegal outdoor marijuana growing operations, they are present and active in remote areas throughout the Russian River watershed. These operations are found on both public and private land. The number of grow sites and the size of the operations are increasing, and so is the impact to the environment and local water resources. This article is intended to raise awareness about the harmful ecological impacts on the Russian River watershed from illegal, unregulated, outdoor marijuana growing operations.
By Don Wallace
Not long ago that our Governor said everyone in the state has to cut back
California’s drought is having a huge impact on our rivers, streams, and wetlands. As streams and rivers run dry, the fish and wildlife that depend on these water sources are fighting to survive.
on their water use, and we have already taken all we are going to take for
now from agriculture. Then a major newspaper prints an article supposedly informing the public how much of California’s water goes to agriculture. I don’t know where they got their figures but the state’s website says differently. The newspaper said something like 80% goes to agriculture.
There are huge differences between the environmental impacts of personal-use gardens, commercial-size grows, and
When I checked the official website for the State of California, not believing what I read, the numbers that I found were as follows: 9% in stream flows, 31% wild & scenic rivers, 2% managed wetlands, 7% required Delta outflows for a whopping 49% to keep our wet places wet. Then 10% goes to urban areas and the remaining 41% goes to agriculture to produce 50% of the nation’s digestibles. These numbers reflect pre-drought information...I am not sure what it looks like now that cutbacks have been put in place. Now that I have that off my chest, I am supposed to be writing about the changes that I have seen over the last 30 years as an agribusiness professional. One thing that hasn’t changed much is the amount of water used in the Dry Creek Valley.
the large-scale cartel grows,
with not all contributing to
the environmental problems.
Unfortunately, there are illegal
marijuana growers that operate with little or no regard for the environmental impacts of their operations, especially the large scale growers whose operations are controlled and funded by drug cartels. Habitat destruction, pollution, and even poaching are huge concerns in these growing areas.
As a matter of fact the amount of water used per acre has gone down. That is because we practice dry farming where it makes sense and more importantly a large portion of the grape growers who farm in Dry Creek Valley practice “Deficit Irrigation” in their vineyards. This is a technical term for water stressing grape vines to increase quality. This kind of farming takes fancy equipment, money and someone that knows how to use it all. If you do it right you maximize wine quality while saving a lot of water. But if you overdo it, i.e. “excess water stress”, wine quality goes to hell in a hurry. Wineries today have also cut way back on water consumption by employing newequipment and better practices in water conservation.
In terms of the larger operations, the problems arise even before the ground is prepared for these illegal grows and continue through to the harvest. Roads are often cut to access illegal grow sites. Trees, brush, and other vegetation may be cleared to make room for these operations. Unregulated road construction can cause erosion and increased sediment loads to the nearby waterways.
These operations use pollutants such as herbicides, used to kill competing plants, and pesticides, which kill off animals and insects that might graze on the marijuana plants. In addition, poisons that are banned from use in the United States may be applied to the site. Toxins used on site can end up washing into waterways or leaching into groundwater.
Sometime around 2006, a small group of us needed to know more about water in Dry Creek Valley. So we came up with the cash to pay a hydrologist to look at several things and one of those things was water use per year from 1955 to 2006. The information was great to see but I was shocked. Back in 1955 Dry Creek and Dry Creek Valley looked a lot different. Dry Creek Valley had no hustle & bustle, no dream homes with their swimming pools and bowling greens, very few wineries and very few farmers compared to today.
Rodenticides (rat poison) are also often used in an attempt to kill forest creatures that might gnaw on irrigation piping or come into contact with
the plants. Rodenticides used on large illegal marijuana grows have been connected to poisoning the Pacific fisher, which is a proposed threatened species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and is a member of the weasel family that inhabits closed-canopy forests and feeds on everything from birds to small mammals to fruits and mushrooms.
In 1955 they were using roughly 10,000 acre feet of water per year but the surprising thing was that at the time of the study in 2006, we were back to using 10,000 acre feet. Now that is what I call water conservation! My guess
is that if these same studies were done across the County today that similar results would be found because quality is king in the Sonoma wine biz. Every farmer wants to get the very best from his vineyard or they won’t stay in business very long and “Deficit Irrigation” is an important tool to make that happen.
The Pacific fisher, birds of prey, and other wildlife populations depend
on smaller creatures, such as rodents and squirrels, for their food source. Rodenticides do not always kill the target pest right away; therefore, any predator that eats a live poisoned creature will be ingesting the poison as well. This is a serious threat to many species of wildlife, including endangered species.
The last thought I would leave you with is that the water a farmer uses goes one of three places. It is taken up into the plant and consumed, it evaporates from the plant or on its way to the plant or it just goes back into the soil where it can find its way to the water table. On the other hand, you know what happens when water goes into a town or city and where it ends up. I won’t bore you with the details but it isn’t good.
When large illegal grow sites are discovered by authorities or found abandoned, they often require government resources and staffing for clean-up. Garbage, human waste, hazardous materials, and fertilizers are usually found littering the landscape. As the illegal grows continue to flourish, more and more government resources are required for identification and eventual clean-up.
Case in point, is the environmental damage done to the Laguna. Until
waste water systems employ membrane filtration systems that will remove the inorganic compounds, waste water is not safe for consumable products over
the long haul. That is because the solids left in the water after tertiary treatment contain particles that accumulate and therefore over time will lead to toxic levels. I believe that there are six cities in California that employ this kind of technology that all large incorporated areas should be putting in NOW. Santa Clara County, Los Angeles County, South Los Angeles County, Venture County, Orange County and San Diego all have made this investment in our future.
The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board recently adopted California’s first regional water quality regulatory order to protect the environment from discharges of waste associated with cannabis cultivation.
The public can help by educating friends and neighbors about the issues and by reporting water quality violations to local law enforcement or directly to the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board at (707) 543-7128 or email stormer.feiler@waterboards.ca.gov.
This article was authored as a collaborative effort by RRWA. RRWA (www. rrwatershed.org) is an association of local public agencies in the Russian River Watershed that have come together to coordinate regional programs for clean water, fisheries restoration, and watershed enhancement.
The last time the state of California spent significant money on water infrastructure our population was roughly 17,000,000. Today, California’s population exceeds 41,000,000. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see where a big part of our water problems lie.
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