State Accepts Growers’ Voluntary Water Cuts Proposal

FRESNO, Calif. (KMJ) — The California Water Resources Control Board has accepted a proposal from farmers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta system, which calls for voluntary 25% reductions, in an effort to avoid even harsher restrictions later this summer.

Barbara Baragain Parilla, director of the environmental group Restore the Delta, tells KMJ, “The idea that they would take a reduction voluntarily, we think is totally generous and noble.”

However, Mario Santoyo of the California Latino Water Coalition believes, “The governor and the state resources control board is missing a major action, in terms of making some of that environmental water available.”

Growers can also choose to leave a portion of their crops unplanted.