With its large water right from the Colorado River, the Imperial Irrigation District in Southern California currently grows about 141,000 acres of alfalfa, a large irrigation water-using crop.
The amount of water used — over 600,000 acre-feet per year — is about 100,000 acre-feet more than the drought is taking from Lake Mead each year.
The alfalfa is sold to China, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.
Why are river water users suffering a water shortage while we are sending all this water to other countries? Why can’t some smart people figure out a better arrangement?