That "Big Ag" will get the price breaks and subsidies on water so they can continue doubling down planting almond trees which are locked into being watered at a rate of about 1 gallon per nut for the next 25 years or so...

And of course the Beef & Dairy Production with it's associated by product "Methane Production" and other heavily watered crops...

Of course the family farms can buy water from Poland Springs, Coke, & Nestle, who took the water that used to flow from your tap, by having Corporate Friendly Politicians and Courts grant them paid favors...

So water poisoned by fracking, as touched on in the post, is factored into the percentages?

This has been 'normalized' as 'acceptable' now?

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/05/05/3654388/california-drought-o...

California Farmers Are Watering Their Crops With Oil Wastewater, And No One Knows What’s In It

by Natasha Geiling May 5, 2015

As California farmers face a fourth year of the state’s historic drought, they’re finding water in unexpected places — like Chevron’s Kern River oil field, which has been selling recycled wastewater from oil production to farmers in California’s Kern County. Each day, Chevron recycles and sells 21 million gallons of wastewater to farmers, which is then applied on about 10 percent of Kern County’s farmland. And while some praise the program as a model for dealing with water shortages, environmental groups are raising concerns about the water’s safety, according to a recent story in the Los Angeles Times.

Tests conducted by Water Defense, an environmental group founded by actor Mark Ruffalo in 2010, have found high levels of acetone and methylene chloride — compounds that can be toxic to humans — in wastewater from Chevron used for irrigation purposes. The tests also found the presence of oil, which is supposed to be removed from the wastewater during recycling.

“All these chemicals of concern are flowing in the irrigation canal,” Scott Smith, chief scientist for Water Defense, told ThinkProgress. “If you were a gas station and were spilling these kinds of chemicals into the water, you would be shut down and fined.”

Chevron, which produces around 70,000 barrels of oil and 760,000 barrels of water each day at the Kern River oil field, has been selling water to farmers in the surrounding area for two decades. But government authorities have never required that water to be tested for chemicals used in oil production — only naturally occurring toxins like salts and arsenic. And even those standards are “decades-old,” according to the Los Angeles Times. ...

... Blake Sanden, an agriculture extension agent and irrigation water expert with UC Davis, told the Los Angeles Times that farmers can smell the petrochemicals in the water, but most assume that the soil is filtering out any harmful toxins before they can be absorbed by the crops. ...

... “The state appears to not even be testing for oil in the water,” Smith said. “You’re not going to find chemicals of concern if you don’t look for them.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, monitoring the oil fields has been a “low priority” for California’s Water State Resources Control Board, the state body that regulates wastewater. The burden for testing wastewater falls largely on the oil companies, which in the past have sought to reduce testing and disclosure requirements due to concerns over time and expense. ...

Gee, I remember shut-down gas stations having to have the soil at the site dug out and removed as toxic, due to minor oil and gas spills occurring there in the course of business. But fossil fuel oil and whatever other petrochemicals accumulating in soil used to grow food is now OK?

http://www.denverpost.com/2012/04/01/fracking-bidders-top-farmers-at-wat...

Fracking bidders top farmers at water auction

By Bruce Finley | bfinley@denverpost.com
April 1, 2012

DENVER—Front Range farmers bidding for water to grow crops through the coming hot summer and possible drought face new competition from oil and gas drillers.

At Colorado’s premier auction for unallocated water this spring, companies that provide water for hydraulic fracturing at well sites were top bidders on supplies once claimed exclusively by farmers.

The prospect of tussling with energy industry giants over water leaves some farmers and environmentalists uneasy.

“What impact to our environment and our agricultural heritage are Coloradans willing to stomach for drilling and fracking?” said Gary Wockner, director of the Save the Poudre Coalition, devoted to protecting the Cache la Poudre River.

“Farm water grows crops, but it also often supports wildlife, wetlands and stream flows back to our rivers. Most drilling and fracking water is lost from the hydrological cycle forever,” Wockner said. “Any transfer of water from rivers and farms to drilling and fracking will negatively impact Colorado’s environment and wildlife.” ...

Oh, good - billions of tons of toxic fracking water previously considered poisoned forever can be 'recycled' for use on food crops, further and more heavily poisoning soil, food, animals, people, air, water sources even more heavily than before and it's now 'conservation' - which not only saves but makes more money for the fracking industry. Isn't it lovely what a difference rephrasing makes?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-08/in-california-big-oil-...

California Farms Are Using Drilling Wastewater to Grow Crops
Alex Nussbaum and David Wethe
July 8, 2015 — 6:01 PM CDT
Updated on July 10, 2015

California’s epic drought is pushing Big Oil to solve a problem it’s struggled with for decades: what to do with the billions of gallons of wastewater that gush out of wells every year.

Golden State drillers have pumped much of that liquid back underground into disposal wells. Now, amid a four-year dry spell, more companies are looking to recycle their water or sell it to parched farms as the industry tries to get ahead of environmental lawsuits and new regulations. ...

...Drillers may have little choice. The state’s 50,000 disposal wells have come under increased scrutiny this year, after regulators said they’d mistakenly allowed companies to inject wastewater near underground drinking supplies. Environmental groups sued the state to stop the practice at 2,500 sites considered most sensitive.

A win for environmentalists could drive up disposal prices and delay drilling by months for Chevron Corp., Linn Energy LLC and other companies, according to a June 12 report by Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Brandon Barnes and Matthew Kerner.
Conservation Rising

Conservation is “suddenly leaping to the forefront,” said Laura Capper, founder of Houston-based CAP Resources, which advises the industry on water use. “You’re going to see a lot of retrofit programs. If they’re not already recycling, they’ll be adapting.” ...

(Too bad Bush had the EPA libraries destroyed and so much existing information on the health and effects of fossil fuels/petrochemicals which was already established is gone...)

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/25216-fracking-the-farm-scientists-wo...

Fracking the Farm: Scientists Worry About Chemical Exposure to Livestock and Agriculture
Sunday, 03 August 2014 10:30 By Roger Drouin, Truthout | Report

... Four years later, in 2009, when a big rig started horizontally drilling for gas nearby, Cleghorn began to see the effects of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, on his farm. Those effects included health impacts on a neighbor's collies and a polluted spring - the kind of problems that now farmers in many states are experiencing and are indicative of a myriad of possible pathways for exposure to fracking.

Recent studies by public health and veterinarian scientists are confirming there is cause for concern when it comes to fracking's potential impact on farm crops and animals.

Soon after the big rig had started drilling about four miles from Cleghorn's farm, a neighboring organic farmer who lived downhill from that rig soon saw one of her farm's water sources, a spring, polluted by what looked like orange acid mine drainage from an old coal mine that the drilling had apparently circulated toward her spring. ...

... Cleghorn worries the incident is an ominous sign of a growing fracking footprint's impact on domestic pets, livestock and agriculture across the county.

"They are going full speed ahead. The gas companies say 'don't worry,'" Cleghorn said. "But I am worried."

In an interview with Truthout, the farmer lists methane, radon and the mix of chemicals in fracking fluid as chemicals of concern that could find their way into his water and air. "Our animals will be exposed 24/7 to plumes of toxic hydrocarbons falling into their pastures," Cleghorn told Truthout, "and what happens to them - such as aspiration pneumonia - could be a harbinger of what will happen to us."

Although stories similar to what happened to Cleghorn's neighbor are not new, specific scientific research into the impacts of the shale gas boom on livestock and crops is a young field of inquiry. Early studies are showing cause for concern about potential threats to nearby farms. ...

... Through air and water, livestock are at risk of contact with toxic chemicals - just as Cleghorn's neighbor's dogs were - say experts. "The issue is that there are a plethora of chemicals and compounds included in those fracking fluids," said Seth B.C. Shonkoff, executive director of Physicians, Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy, an advocacy group critical of fracking. Those chemicals and compounds that are either pumped into wells or are loosened in the process include benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes, and arsenic, lead, cadmium and radium. ...

... The results of Oswald and Bamberger's 2012 study found that in addition to the effects on humans, domestic and farm animals affected included "cows, horses, goats, llamas, chickens, dogs, cats, and koi." ...

... In one instance, half of a herd was exposed to wastewater after the lining of a wastewater impoundment was allegedly slit, as reported by the farmer, and the fluid drained into the pasture and the pond used as a water source for the cows. Of 140 head exposed to the contaminated water source, 70 died and there was a high incidence of stillborn and stunted calves. The remainder of the herd was held in another pasture and did not have access to the wastewater-tainted water source; they showed no health or growth problems, according to the study. ...

... In the most dramatic case Oswald and Bamberger discovered, 17 cows died within one hour of direct exposure to hydraulic fracturing fluid. A necropsy was conducted on the cows, providing meaningful scientific information.

"There was some evidence that the chemicals in the cows were the kinds of chemicals one could find in hydraulic fracturing fluid," Oswald said.

The report gives a detailed analysis: "The final necropsy report listed the most likely cause of death as respiratory failure with circulatory collapse."

"Petroleum hydrocarbons" and other toxins were found in the cows' small intestines. In addition, lesions in the lung, trachea, liver and kidneys suggested exposure to other toxics, including "quaternary ammonium compounds," which were found in the fracking fluid.

In addition to exposure to chemicals through water, Cleghorn, the Pennsylvania farmer, believes farm animals are vulnerable to air contamination. ...

... "Certainly if precautions are not undertaken, this could have an economic impact on certain regions," said Madelon Finkel, a professor of clinical public health at Cornell University's medical college.

"Pennsylvania is one of the largest dairy states," Finkel said. "What we don't want to get out is that cows are stunted and milk production is off. This could be absolutely devastating to the state."

The burgeoning Greek yogurt industry with ties to upstate New York could also see an impact if fracking spreads to New York State, Finkel added. ...

(Please read especially this in full at source!)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maria-rodale/how-fracking-affects-your_b_3...

How Fracking Affects Your Farmer’s Market
07/18/2013 09:47 am ET | Updated Sep 16, 2013

... As a quick reminder, fracking is a drilling technique that involves the fracturing of rock through the use of high-pressure, chemical-laced water that is pumped deep underground, releasing natural gas and oil that has been trapped in the rock for millennia. Some of the “treated” water stays underground, and some of it flows back and then needs to be “stored” or “cleaned.” Currently there is no safe way to put this wastewater back into the water cycle.

And it’s posing a highly underreported threat to our food supply and security and to our families’ health. ...

... At a June 2013 panel discussion on Food, Farms, and Fracking in California, Kassie Siegel, director of the Climate Law Institute at the Center for Biological Diversity, addressed this issue and stated that “fracking pollution poses a real risk to our food sheds, organic farms, and all aspects of food production.”

As fracking expands into areas that are home to some of the most productive farmland in the world, questions need to be raised regarding the long-term safety for the agricultural industry. According to the Catskill Mountainkeeper, fracking and fracking waste can threaten our food supply in the following ways: ...

Too bad we couldn't all start shifting to greener energy tech than fracking...

If only people would vote against the billionaire Republican candidate and the multimillionaire corporate Dem candidate who promoted fracking around the world by voting Green - if Bernie can't pull off one of his remarkable miracles - Americans might begin to have safer everything and not have to eat, drink and breath increasing doses of fossil fuels/petrochemicals for the rest of their then short, brutish, nasty but pragmatic lives.

But it's essential to use the remaining unpoisoned water supplies for corporate profit, since corporations don't eat, drink, wash or breathe and, of properly stored, the paperwork will last for ages after life on Earth dies off. Data-dots on the unmaintained net, perhaps not so much?