February is right around the corner and the only thing I can think about as I drive around the valley is how low a lot of reservoirs are. Since the begining of 2012 we have had one good storm and most reservoirs remain very low. For those of you who don't know water is a big issue here in the valley. I still think the reservoirs will fill up this year but having it happen this late in the year can still effect growers in the future.
A few years ago there was a big deal in the Russian River AVA when we had a really bad frost season. The growers pumped right out of the Russian River for their frost protection sprinklers. They pumped so much water out so quickly that they left fish stranded in parts of the river. This has led to a lot of talk in the government and a lot of things are changing. Napa doesn't have the water that the Russian River has. Even in parts of Napa that have a good source of water people are switching to wind machines for frost protection.
In areas like the Los Carneros AVA where we barely have the water for irrigation our society has started to reconsider our heavy use of runoff. There is a big push to better use our resources and right now recycled water is the big topic. It is really just a question of funding the pipeline since there are growers who would use this water. The really sad thing is that years ago before the green movement a pipeline was turned down because some growers felt that the public would react badly if news got out that we were using toilet water on our vines. Makes you think about how much the world can change in just a few years!
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