FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Many California farmers and other water customers expect to receive all of their requested deliveries this year from a vast system of canals and reservoirs run by the federal government, while others will likely receive a fraction as the state recovers from several years of drought, officials said Friday.
Farms and water customers in the state’s northern Central Valley will receive their full water supplies provided by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Last year, those farmers received no water, and communities got a one-quarter of their contracted supplies.
Many farms in the San Joaquin Valley south of the Sacramento San Joaquin River Delta where California’s two largest rivers meet will receive five percent of requested deliveries. These received no surface water in the last two years.
California remains in a drought emergency, despite receiving a near-average amount of rain and snow this winter, David Murillo, Reclamation’s Mid-Pacific regional director, said in a statement, announcing the initial water plan for California.
“The ongoing and residual impacts of the multi-year drought continue,” he said.
The El Nino weather system, which delivered a near-average amount of rain and snow, mostly in Northern California, spilled water over top the state’s major reservoirs. Southern California, meanwhile, saw relatively little precipitation leaving most of its reservoirs low.
The announcement affects San Joaquin Valley farmers, spanning California’s interior from Stockton to Bakersfield. It is home to about one-third of California’s farmland and one of the nation’s most productive agricultural regions. Drought has forced some farmers to buy expensive water, rely heavily on groundwater or fallow fields.
The little water being provided to many farmers in the San Joaquin Valley’s Westlands Water District is “grossly inadequate,” district spokeswoman Gayle Holman said in a statement. She said that it shows how California’s water delivery system is broken.
State officials, who run an interrelated system, have said they’ll provide 45 percent of the water their customers requested.
Statement by Fresno Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen:
“Today’s announcement of a five percent water allocation for Fresno County’s West side federal water contractors and a 30 percent allocation for Friant users is despicable. It illustrates the degree of mismanagement and inconsistency by the federal government in operating the Central Valley Project.
“The federal water policy has failed. It has failed to protect fish species, and, most importantly, it’s failed to provide water to the communities and businesses who need it most.
“Reservoirs throughout the state have been filling. However, the government’s restrictive interpretation has resulted in the permanent loss of 789,000 acre-feet of water. Inflows into the Delta were as high as 300,000 acre-feet of water per day! Since December 2015, more than 200 billion gallons of water have been forever lost to the ocean with almost no water being allocated to agriculture. The season to capture these flows is quickly disappearing.
“Today’s water allocation announcement will force farmers to continue to idle land, lose crops and rely on scarce groundwater resources. It’s impacting families and communities throughout the Valley. This absurdity cannot continue.
“Food is a basic necessity of life. This water allocation will ultimately cause the transition of our food supply to foreign soil. California has the strictest level of regulations and laws in place to ensure the safest, most quality food is produced daily. Do Americans really want to send that to another country?
“All Valley residents must push for additional surface water and groundwater storage; improved conveyance through the state, specifically in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta; and a return to common-sense water policies that bring back into balance water allocated for food production, municipal and rural communities, the economy and the environment.”
