美国国家公共电台 NPR--Farmers on the California-Arizona border may face their first-ever cuts to water

Farmers on the California-Arizona border may face their first-ever cuts to water

Transcript¹

Despite a wet winter, the drought crisis along the Colorado River remains² dire³ and produce farmers along the California-Arizona border may be facing their first ever cuts to irrigation water.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The Biden administration has released some details of its $15 billion response to drought in the Colorado River Basin. Yesterday in Arizona, the administration called it the largest investment in climate resilience in the nation's history. But new projects alone won't solve the crisis on the shrinking river. That will require sacrifice. From the California-Arizona border, NPR's Kirk Siegler reports on farmers who are facing water cutbacks for the first time in history.

KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE⁴: For almost 100 years, Amanda Brooks⁵' family has relied on the Colorado River near Yuma, Ariz., to transform this harsh brown desert into lush fields of green, growing abundant lettuce⁶, spinach⁷, kale, broccoli⁸ and celery. This is where 90% of all the nation's winter produce has grown. Today, it's the end of the celery harvest. The old leaves and stalks crackle as we walk toward the edge of a field, which is also the edge of the state.

AMANDA BROOKS: Yeah. So that levee is California. And right between us and the middle of that levee is the main channel of the Colorado River.

SIEGLER: Brooks has watched with alarm as the river has shrunk in the last two decades. But until recently, it's mostly been business as usual across the seven states that rely on it. Farmers in Yuma are luckier in that they have senior water rights and aren't seeing their river water cut like in other parts of Arizona. But Brooks feels like her day is coming soon.

BROOKS: We would love to be able to farm using all the water that we have now, but we know there's not enough water to go around. And Yuma farmers are willing to help save the river where we can.

SIEGLER: Yuma farmers say they're willing to leave water in the river to pause planting some of their land in exchange for money. And the latest plan the administration and its Bureau of Reclamation⁹ announced this week does include hundreds of millions of federal dollars to do that. Yesterday in Phoenix¹⁰, White House adviser¹¹ Mitch Landrieu, the former mayor of New Orleans, told reporters that the 40 million people who rely on the Colorado River can be assured the administration has their backs.

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MITCH LANDRIEU: We have a 23 year drought in this country that is not going to be fixed¹² by a deluge¹³ of rain every now and then. We have to reorganize ourselves. We have to come up with new and innovative¹⁴ ways to deal with that.

SIEGLER: Well, the West is coming off a wet winter, but it will do little to address the long-term drought. And this latest batch¹⁵ of federal funding won't be enough to keep the nation's two largest reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead¹⁶, from reaching dead pool, the point at which they're too empty to generate hydropower. Paul Brierley, who runs the Yuma Center for Desert Agriculture, is encouraged that Washington is finally taking this seriously.

PAUL BRIERLEY: You know, another way to look at it - we have a lot of natural disasters in the East - right? - that are hurricanes and floods and tornadoes¹⁷. This is basically a slow-moving natural disaster.

SIEGLER: The scientists at this center have helped local farmers like Amanda Brooks double their yields in recent years while cutting their water use by about 20%.

BROOKS: This is celery that's already been harvested. And you can see they take almost everything out of there.

SIEGLER: Brooks says it's hard to plan what to plant for next year with so many unknowns still.

BROOKS: You can make larger water cuts someplace else and not hurt the food supply like you would here in Yuma.

SIEGLER: It's not yet clear whether farmers here will get federal payments to not use some river water or whether those will even be enough to keep them in the black.

BROOKS: It's almost unfathomable to think that the river could get to dead pool. I mean, we've got to make some decisions, and the bureau's got to take some action so that we don't get to dead pool.

SIEGLER: The Bureau of Reclamation that controls water here in the West says it will announce a bigger-picture plan next week for preventing dead pool. In Yuma, this cloud of uncertainty¹⁸ is hanging over the annual county fair that's going on this week.

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SIEGLER: A Journey cover band is warming up the crowd on opening night. Fairgoers are noshing on ears of roasted corn, green chili¹⁹ pork and tortilla dogs.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: It's very healthy (laughter).

SIEGLER: Southwest farming towns like this are proud of their agricultural heritage. Their future depends on the river.

DREW HUGHES: A lot of people think Yuma is just a desert area. You know, we are the winter-vegetable capital of the world, I guess.

SIEGLER: Drew Hughes is over in a noisy dairy barn helping²⁰ kids show their calves²¹.

HUGHES: Some of the farming communities - they are worried about the water coming up for next year. So with this season, it was a pretty good season, but it's going to be rough.

SIEGLER: Rough, he says, as food prices here and everywhere else will only go higher.

Kirk Siegler, NPR News, Yuma, Ariz.

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1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 lettuce   

n.莴苣；生菜

参考例句：

• Get some lettuce and tomatoes so I can make a salad.买些莴苣和西红柿，我好做色拉。
• The lettuce is crisp and cold.莴苣松脆爽口。

7 spinach   

n.菠菜

参考例句：

• Eating spinach is supposed to make you strong.据说吃菠菜能使人强壮。
• You should eat such vegetables as carrot,celery and spinach.你应该吃胡萝卜、芹菜和菠菜这类的蔬菜。

8 broccoli   

n.绿菜花，花椰菜

参考例句：

• She grew all the broccoli plants from seed.这些花椰菜都是她用种子培育出来的。
• They think broccoli is only green and cauliflower is only white.他们认为西兰花只有绿色的，而菜花都是白色的。

9 reclamation   

n.开垦；改造；（废料等的）回收

参考例句：

• We should encourage reclamation and recycling.我们应当鼓励废物的回收和利用。
• The area is needed for a land reclamation project.一个土地开垦项目要在这一地区进行。

10 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

11 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

12 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

13 deluge   

n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥

参考例句：

• This little stream can become a deluge when it rains heavily.雨大的时候，这条小溪能变作洪流。
• I got caught in the deluge on the way home.我在回家的路上遇到倾盆大雨。

14 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

15 batch   

n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量

参考例句：

• The first batch of cakes was burnt.第一炉蛋糕烤焦了。
• I have a batch of letters to answer.我有一批信要回复。

16 mead   

n.蜂蜜酒

参考例句：

• He gave me a cup of mead.他给我倒了杯蜂蜜酒。
• He drank some mead at supper.晚饭时他喝了一些蜂蜜酒。

17 tornadoes   

n.龙卷风，旋风( tornado的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Tornadoes, severe earthquakes, and plagues create wide spread havoc. 龙卷风、大地震和瘟疫成普遍的毁坏。 来自互联网
• Meteorologists are at odds over the working of tornadoes. 气象学者对龙卷风的运动方式看法不一。 来自互联网

18 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

19 chili   

n.辣椒

参考例句：

• He helped himself to another two small spoonfuls of chili oil.他自己下手又加了两小勺辣椒油。
• It has chocolate,chili,and other spices.有巧克力粉，辣椒，和其他的调味品。

20 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

21 calves   

n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解

参考例句：

• a cow suckling her calves 给小牛吃奶的母牛
• The calves are grazed intensively during their first season. 小牛在生长的第一季里集中喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》