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Westlands to ration water through summer; unprecedented move follows dry ‘rainy season’

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 31, 2008 at 6:48 am

From the Fresno Bee:

After the driest spring in more than 80 years, Westlands Water District is rationing its already reduced irrigation supply through the hottest months of the year. The move could mean damaged crops, abandoned fields and lost jobs. Contributing to the unprecedented decision, which cut irrigation supplies by about one-third, is a court ruling setting aside water for threatened fish in Northern California.

Officials of the Westlands Water District, the nation’s largest at 600,000 acres, decided this week to continue rationing through Aug. 31, spokeswoman Sarah Woolf said.

Westlands, most of which is in Fresno County, produces about $1 billion in crops each year. That is more than 20% of the crop value for the No. 1 farming county in the nation.

The court decision, resulting in shut-downs at pumps, already has cost the district about 700,000 acre-feet of water, which would have been pumped into the San Luis Reservoir in western Merced County. Westlands farmers get their water from San Luis Reservoir. The 700,000 acre-feet represents more water than the district would have received all year from the federal government.

Westlands is not the only district affected. About 30 other districts on the Valley’s west side also are struggling with water supply. Westlands and the other districts are part of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, which represents districts covering more than 2 million acres of farmland.

Dan Nelson, authority executive director, said California never has had to deal with a drought when so many options available to farmers “have been denied by administrative, judicial and statutory restrictions.”

Mark Borba, a Riverdale grower in Westlands, said crops like almonds, tomatoes and cotton will suffer. “Yields will fall, quality will decline, fields will be abandoned, trees may die and unemployment will skyrocket,” he said.

Read the full text of this article from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.

May 31, 2008 · Filed Under Westlands Water District

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