HERD ABOUT IT?

by ana grarian

……….Beneath this small farm town at the end of what’s left of the Kings River,

the ground is sinking.

………. their farm was on the edge of Tulare Lake — “the lake that once was.” It had been the largest body of fresh water west of the Mississippi, some four and a half times bigger than Lake Tahoe. But the four Sierra rivers that flowed to the lake — the Kings, Kern, Kaweah and Tule — were dammed, diverting water that powerful landowners could own and sell.

“We’re growing dirt,” David Orton said. “It’s a very popular crop around here right now.”

………. the water table below Stratford fell 100 feet in two years. Land in some spots in the Central Valley has dropped a foot a year.

Read the entire article by DIANA MARCUM on the L A TIMES  website