It is no secret that the United States, specifically the west coast, is experiencing a rising number of wildfires and drought conditions during another unnaturally hot summer season. Drought conditions throughout the country continue to reach record-breaking highs, bringing an extreme threat to not only wildlife but cannabis growers and agricultural farms in the heating Western states.
On top of these sweltering weather conditions resulting in threatening wildfires, watershed resources in these drought locations are further hindering the water shortage that is currently impacting cannabis and agricultural farms. The legality of cannabis manufacturing in places such as California has the state struggling to detect illegal growers that are draining the state’s limited supply of this natural resource.
As a country, we need a solution between the Western legal cannabis states reaching higher levels of wildfires and illegal growers exhausting the already scarce water resources.
Is It Hot in Here?
In four of the past ten years, (specifically 2012, 2015, 2017, and 2020), wildfires have burned over 9 million acres in the United States. Last year, California had its worst wildfire season recorded, with an estimated 4.3 million acres burned and 10,488 structures damaged or destroyed as a result. Considering the Dixie Fire in Northern California that continues to burn as we speak, the state will more than likely reach new wildfire records by the end of the year. Three of the largest wildfires that occurred in Colorado’s 2020 summer season also resulted in a combination of more than half of a million acres of land being destroyed.
Image courtesy of the U.S. Drought Monitor https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/
Each fire continues to destroy nearby natural resources, wildlife, property and impacting the lives of many. There are a number of causes that contribute to these raging wildfires that continue to appear throughout every summer and fall. A recent environmental analysis presented 60 years of climate data in California to show the state’s wildfire season is getting longer due to a shrinking wet season. This information concluded that Northern California’s wet season, which is considered the window between a winter’s first and last rainstorm, to be shortened at least 22 days since 1979. While this may not seem like a significant difference in the state’s seasons, areas throughout California rely on the wet seasons of snow and rain to restore watersheds in the summer and fall seasons, where these drought and wildfire conditions frequently occur.
Overall, the wet season isn’t exactly dissipating on the west coast, but being squeezed into a smaller, more narrow window. Compared to the dry season lengthening each year due to rising temperatures, the winter rains expected in California are arriving progressively later, developing drier climates that run a greater risk of wildfires or droughts. In this environmental report, climate scientist David Swain states, “the extension of the dry season increases the overlap between extremely dry vegetation conditions and fire-promoting downslope winds in late autumn.”
Consequently, as the severity of this climate continues to be a crisis in California, cannabis growers strive to remain safe and prepared from becoming a casualty in these threatening conditions.
Drought and Theft
On top of the deepening drought conditions California is facing comes the scarcity of water and water containment in the various industries that rely on it the most. Legal cannabis growers in California are required to follow strict environmental water regulations during these severe drought seasons, controlling the state’s water supply as it diminishes due to severe dry seasons. The Cannabis Small Irrigation Use Registration was established to legally regulate water rations of cannabis growers based on the number of legal growers in the area and the size of their crop.
This grants growers water rights to irrigate cannabis through The Cannabis Policy - this policy prohibits cannabis cultivators from diverting surface water during the dry season forbearance period, from April 1st through October 31st each year. This means that water used in cannabis cultivation must be diverted to off-stream storage during the wet season in order to be used during the dry season.
However, the unknowing abundance of illegal cultivators that are growing under the radar has resulted in these rations being inaccurate. Those who do not have a proper license to grow and take water legally in the state of California are draining resources from authorized cultivators with legal operations. As drought continues reaching most of California, this water thievery is reaching increasing records. Reservoirs, pipelines, rivers, and lakes that are already low in water demand are being snatched by these illegal farmers. Officials in Northern California counties are saying water thefts are increasing at about the same rate as the decline in California’s water supplies. “Any way that you can imagine that somebody is going to grab water, they’re doing it,” says Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall.
Water theft has been an ongoing issue in California for some time, but the severity of the current drought and threatening wildfires has increased the number of illegal cannabis operations that are exacerbating this problem. This year so far, Narcotics Bureau detectives identified more than 500 illegal outdoor cannabis growing operations that are contributing to this water theft. Not only are these state legal cultivators struggling to receive their authorized water resources, but these illegal cultivation activities during an already intense year of drought are also putting an excessive amount of pressure on strained fish and wildlife resources. Ted Grantham, a member of the Public Policy Institue of California’s Water Policy Center comments on the rising issue of cannabis cultivation and the result of water theft in the industry, “We are concerned about cannabis water use because many cannabis farms are in remote upper watersheds that support sensitive species. There’s naturally low water availability in these headwaters, especially in the dry season, so even small diversions can have an impact on the ecosystem.”
Searching for Solutions
Authorities will continue to track down illegal cannabis growers and those committing water theft, but this will not fully resolve the climate issue at hand.
While multiple outdoor and indoor cannabis operations in the state of California endure another prolonged dry season, solutions and alternatives are gaining recognition for a more sustainable solution. Geomat offers a Patented water recovery solution for cannabis growers that are facing these aggressive drought and fire conditions, as well as the increasing water theft occurring as a result. Geomat’s closed-loop systems provide the opportunity for all water runoff used in cultivation operations to be recaptured, recycled, and refiltered until ready for reuse.
Final Takeaway
There is an assortment of potential solutions that can contribute to the rising drought conditions and water theft that is developing in California. While a combination of time and effort is striving towards an answer, legal cannabis growers have the opportunity to preserve their water resources for their operation through environmentally compliant solutions such as Geomat.
To learn more, visit Geomat or contact us for a quote today.