Last week Jose and I had a little chuckle about how it took 2 men watching and one man working to plug a hole in the irrigation riser that we will draw from for the back forty. The 'worker is hidden behind the concrete pipe in this picture. Jose asked if the farm could survive if he had two guys watching and only one working. We would not be able to sustain such a large payroll. Luckily for the Solano Irrigation District (SID) they can charge us what they want as we are captive customers of theirs. My bill for this work which took a man about 1.5 hours was $500, and they insisted on payment before they would start work.
There is much consternation amongst the local farmers as the SID Engineers want to move into a new office building with nice glass walls. The only problem is that it will cost $13 million. They have said they plan to pay for this over the next ten years by raising the rates that they charge farmers for water. Even if we did deserve to pay more for our water they could find cheaper office space in these uncertain economic times. While we are all looking for ways to save money they are thinking big.... Nigel