GRASSHOPPER, APHID NUMBERS ON THE RISE Page 7 Capital Press The West s Weekly FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2015 VOLUME 88, NUMBER 30 WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM NO RELIEF IN SIGHT FOR PARCHED WEST $2.00 Wash. farmers told to change pay practices Supreme Court leaves door open for retroactive claims By DON JENKINS Capital Press Depleted streams, groundwater likely face months of deterioration By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Stream fl ows across the West are now running as low as they normally would in late summer, but autumn storms won’t be coming to the rescue anytime soon. And neither did record rainfall in Cali- fornia last weekend. With seasonal dry weather likely to continue over the next couple of months, experts say the area is facing extreme- ly parched conditions barring an unlikely stretch of low temperatures and high pre- cipitation. “We’re expecting it to get worse. You’re going to see deterioration in the region,” said Dave Simeral, research meteorologist at the Western Regional Climate Center. Given higher-than-normal temperatures over the past two months, streams and riv- ers are likely to heat up to the point of caus- ing fi sh kills in some areas, he said. Waterways should currently be receiving an infusion of cold water from melting snow- packs, but that snowfall was severely lacking last winter, Simeral said. “You’re not getting that cool water being put into the system,” he said. “You saw a lot more rain than snow.” Snowpacks melted up to 12 weeks earlier than normal in Oregon and rainfall was in- suffi cient to support stream fl ows, said Scott Oviatt, the state’s snow survey supervisor for the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. “It’s unprecedented, what we’ve been able to observe,” Oviatt said. If the current trend continues, it’s likely that some streams will completely dry out over the summer, he said. For agriculture, that has meant senior wa- ter rights holders have “called” water up to a month and a half earlier than average, effec- tively cutting off irrigation for junior water rights holders, according to the Oregon Wa- ter Resources Department. Chief Geoff Pemberton/CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire In this photo provided by the CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire Department, heavy stormwaters rush un- der an the elevated portion westbound Interstate 10 as emergenhy hrews respond to the hollapse of the eastbound sehtion, Sunday, July 19, 2015, in Desert Center, Calif. Rehord rainfall in muhh of Southern California last weekend had little impaht on drought honditions in the Golden State, experts say. California rainfall totals INSIDE The West’s Weekly July 24, 2015 CapitalPress.com Precipitation for the water year-to-date, Oct. 1, 2014 -July 21, versus the historical average as of July 21. 13.76 MORE frequent, severe DROUGHTS probable in the WEST Redding Oct. 1, 2014- July 21, 2015 (Precipitation in inches) 10.71: 78% of norm. 11.75 5 Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press In this photo taken May 18, irrigation pipes sit along a dried canal on a field farmed by Gino Celli near Stockton, Calif. Celli, who farms 1,500 acres and manages 7,000 acres, has senior water rights and draws his irrigation water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. DROUGHT SPECIAL SECTION a dusty brown truck outfitted Oct. 1-July 21 normal 80 Sacramento the Sierra Nevada to figure out Capital Press Stockton • Skagit County irrigation districts on half rations ined fire scars in tree rings in determine when wildfires were N 7.53: 123% of norm. 5.82: 50% of norm. San Francisco 6.11 efficiency. Tim Hearden/Capital Press temperatures, Griffin and Anchu Kevin Greer of the Tehama County, Calif., Resource Conservation District pulls out buckets and hoses he uses to test growers’ irriga- tion efficiency. As droughts are expected to become more frequent and severe, he believes there will be a continued demand for his mobile irrigation lab. frequent wildfires and increased bring larger floods and deeper Madera Page 4 malnutrition and even conflict • California proposes historic $1.5M fi ne for taking water researchers Daniel Griffin of the 50 miles “That has a significant impact After fluctuating over the past finally mass migration in search 5 10.66: 105% of norm. Kingman, Ariz. 40 10.16 15 Los Angeles Page 4 10 • Yakima Basin reservoirs 78 percent of average Page 5 Turn to DROUGHT, Page 12 San Diego 8 Source: California Nevada River Forecast Center, NOAA Alan Kenaga/Capital Press Washington growers should immediately start pay- ing piece-rate workers sepa- rately for rest breaks, a law- yer who represents several farm groups says. Yakima attorney Sarah Wixson advised a speedy ac- ceptance of the state Supreme Court’s 9-0 ruling July 16 that struck down the agricultural industry’s practice of paying pickers by the pound, with- out extra pay for 10-minute breaks. The justices left open the possibility that workers can retroactively seek pay. The ruling makes farms, especial- ly large ones, vulnerable to further lawsuits, Wixson said. The statute of limitations on wage claims is three years. The sooner a farm starts pay- ing separately for rest breaks, the sooner time will run out on fi ling claims, she said. “Everybody has to hold their breaths for the next three years,” Wixson said. The ruling stemmed from a 2013 federal class-action lawsuit fi led against Skagit County berry company Sa- kuma Bros. Farms. The workers alleged wage vio- lations, which were settled out of court last year. Work- ers asked the state Supreme Court whether going forward Sakuma had to pay piece-rate pickers separately for rest breaks. Company spokesman Roger van Oosten said Fri- day that Sakuma revised its wage structure for the 2015 harvest to pay separately for rest breaks. Workers are paid at least $10 an hour, with bo- nuses for the amount of ber- ries picked. Pickers can earn up to $40 an hour, he said. “We’ve been doing it the whole picking season,” he said. Wixson said the ruling in- vites lawsuits because work- ers’ attorneys won’t have to prove anything. Turn to PAY, Page 12 Ag questions new Clean Water Act rule Critics say EPA, Corps of Engineers rely on trust that doesn’t exist Capital Press A new rule defi ning the wa- ters of the U.S. protected under the Clean Water Act has gener- ated a fl ood of criticism and a growing number of legal chal- lenges from farmers, ranchers and irrigators. They claim that the Envi- ronmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engi- neers, which wrote the rule, are participating a “land grab” and that enforcement of the rule is open to interpretation by gov- ernment offi cials. EPA offi cials say the new rule includes exemptions for agricultural activities and that nothing will change for farmers and ranchers. However, the language of the rule reads differently, said Brian Olmstead, manager of the Twin Falls Canal Co. Like many irrigators, he sees the rule as reason for concern. “It looks to us like EPA wants to regulate every farmer, every ditch and every irrigated pasture,” he said. The agency says “just trust us,” ag exemptions will be maintained, he said. The Clean Water Act makes it illegal to discharge any pol- lutant from a single source into navigable water without a per- mit. Permits are costly and fi nes are hefty. Until recently, agri- culture has operated for nearly 40 years under a defi nition of navigable waters and exemp- tions for normal practices. The new rule expands that regulatory jurisdiction to any water with even a remote con- nection to those navigable waters, Olmstead said. The rule, he said, doesn’t clearly defi ne protected waters and leaves determinations up to the agency. EPA offi cials disagree. They say the new rule is in- tended to clarify which waters are protected in response to Supreme Court decisions and the public’s demand for great- Carol Ryan Dumas/Capital Press Norm Semanko, left, exehutive direhtor of Idaho Water Users Assohiation, talks wth Lynn Harmon, manager of Big Wood Canal Company/Amerihan Falls Reservoir Distriht 2, during IWUA’s sum- mer law honferenhe in Sun Valley in June. er clarity, consistency and predictability in jurisdictional determinations. The jurisdictional scope of the Clean Water Act is “navi- gable waters,” defi ned in the Turn to RULE, Page 12 30-1/#5 By CAROL RYAN DUMAS