(C) Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural This story was originally published by Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Who Is Behind Those Water Signs On I-5? [1] [] Date: 2026-04 “We’re very close to the tipping point, in that if we don’t have a change in policy very quickly about solving the problem long term, then the economic dislocation is going to start,” said Prosperi. “It’s going to be very hard. Detroit -- that’s what it’s going to look like.” The situation has become increasingly dire. Paltry rainfall has left valley farmers with less water than ever. Last year, they were hit with a staggering blow: all farmers who got their water from the federal Central Valley Project, which provides water to over three million acres of farmland, including six of the country’s seven most productive farming counties, would receive no water at all. This move forced the farmers to use water already in reserve or, if possible, to buy water from another source. Things didn’t get better this year. The farmers again didn’t receive any allocations from the Central Valley Project, and the group has little faith in any of Governor Brown’s plans to address the issue. In addition to these hardships, the farmers have had to deal with the general public's increasing antipathy towards farmers’ water use. As the state sees more reservoirs and rivers run dry, agriculture, which most sources agree uses 80% of the state’s water, has become a popular target. Families Protecting The Valley contends that agriculture only uses about 40% of the state’s water. (Learn more about this complicated and often contentious subject.) And so, over the years, the farmers have been forced to become public relations experts. “I give the environmental community credit. They came out saying ag uses 80% of the water, one gallon per [almond] and they blanketed the media to the point where the lie becomes the truth,” Prosperi said. “Our side hasn’t done that. Farmers aren’t made that way. They think, ‘Well, they’re wrong, we’re right, people gotta see that.’ Well, people don’t see it, and we’re losing the PR battle. In fact, I’ll say we already lost the PR battle.” Families Protecting the Valley tried a few different methods. The group sent people to meetings in Sacramento, created a TV ad, and has sent people to San Francisco to pass out flyers. None of these measures were enough to get the message sufficiently into the mainstream, and proved too expensive for the group, which survives solely on donations. It needed a cheap and effective way to get its message into the world. That's where the signs came in. Around 2008, with the help of a friend, Hanford real estate broker and former farmer Russ Waymire put up the group's first sign: “Congress Created Dust Bowl.” Other signs soon followed, but it took awhile to get the message right. Waymire and his pals tried different size signs, experimenting with the fewest number of words needed to get the point across. FPV members drove down the highway at 80 miles an hour to see if the signs were legible. Local farmers quickly became interested in the project, offering up their land to host signs, while others started to put up signs of their own along Highway 99 and Interstate 5. People were eager to help, Waymire said. “Some people were saying ‘We’re not working weekends, we’re not getting enough hours, want us to stand out here? Get us some signs, we’ll stand out here by I-5 and we'll tell these people.’ “Most people, they’re busy with their lives, believing what people are telling them and what they hear, which is that farmers are the problem.” On the phone, both Prosperi and Waymire speak quickly and passionately, carefully laying out their evidence and information for their cause like lawyers at trial. It’s a hard fight, one they feel they are losing. “People ask us, are you guys going to win or lose? And I [say] no, we’ve already lost. I’m not stupid,” Prosperi said. “But the point is: I want to get enough people to hear the other side, where somewhere out in the future, somebody will say, ‘You know, those guys were right.’” Though Prosperi and Waymire worry they are fighting a losing battle, they can’t stop. Farms are dying, families are losing their livelihoods and there’s no end in sight. Yet still they press on, trying to share their perspective on how California's water resources should be used, bit by bit, sign by sign, in the hope that one day soon, people will wake up and realize how wrong they’ve been. “We were fighting before the drought. Now the drought has brought to a head what we’ve been telling people for years is going to happen,” Prosperi said. “Hopefully somewhere along the line, there’ll be a realization that the state is going in the wrong direction. But if they don’t do something quick, it’s going to be too late.” [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.kqed.org/bayareabites/96228/who-is-behind-those-water-signs-on-the-i-5 Published and (C) by Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0 International. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailyyonder/