Water Crisis Prompts California To Investigate Pot Farms

California has ramped up its efforts to prevent water wasting by farmers who grow marijuana, a plant that requires lots to drink.

Governor Jerry Brown approved $3 million in funding last year to test a program targeting medium and small-scale pot farmers in the upper Central Valley and North Coast.

“Officials from the State Water Resources Control Board and Department of Fish and Wildlife so far have visited 150 sites with growers’ approval. They have issued instructions on water conservation and filed 50 notices of environmental violations,” The Sacramento Bee reported.

“The program is not intended for outlaw growers surreptitiously using public lands, but instead targets farmers on private properties who cultivate a crop that’s arguably legal if unregulated. They work in a gray corner of agriculture where rules have yet to be fully established,” the report said.

Marijuana plants require a significant amount of water.

"Growers of marijuana...use up to 6 gallons per day per plant during the summer growing season," said Scott Bauer, a fisheries biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, to NPR.

Wildlife regulators were drawn to the issue in part because of concern that the boom in weed farming on the North Coast could be detrimental to salmon populations.

Patrick Foy, a state government official, emphasized that marijuana farms failing to practice environmental conscientiousness pose a threat to wildlife. “The destruction of habitat is actually quite staggering,” he said, The Press Democrat reported.

In late July, regulators inspected 20 pot farms over two days. A pair of brothers, Steve and Howard Harvey, retired professionals now in their ‘70s, were among those they met. The brothers have been growing pot for more than four decades.

A groups of environmental scientists, led by Connor McIntee of the water board and Tobi Freeny of Fish and Wildlife, inspected their 50-plant marijuana garden. Here’s a scene from the encounter, per the Bee:

“Everybody up here when we bought this place just grew a lot of pot. It wasn’t an industry,” said Steve. He described seeing “not dozens, but literally hundreds” of water tanks hauled up into the forest in recent years to store siphoned water.

“We’re in a bad-news drought, and all these growers, they’re all new and they’re all about money, money, money, greed, greed, greed,” he said.

The fenced ridge-top plot was modest compared to the vast cultivations common in the area, but appeared to exceed county marijuana guidelines, which allow up to 200 square feet of growing space on larger properties.

Howard told the officers he uses cannabis medicinally for skin cancer. He said he offered no product for sale. Officials said they just wanted to know about his fertilizer use, irrigation and drainage.

“Where does the water come in?” Freeny asked him.

“It comes from that tank,” he said, gesturing to a neighbor’s water storage unit.

“Does that water come from a spring?”

“Yes,” he answered, adding: “There’s one thing about the Harvey brothers — they tell the truth.”

“That’s good,” Freeny responded.

No citation was issued.

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