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How much water will farmers in California get this year? The answer may surprise you.

Posted by: Maven on April 9, 2009 at 7:14 am

From Doug Obegi, staff attorney for the Western Water Project, and the NRDC Switchboard blog:

Last week, the House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on California’s water supply this year, with particular emphasis on farmers in the Central Valley. Largely as a result of three consecutive dry years, this is going to be a pretty tough water year for water users across the state. For some farmers, the Central Valley Project (CVP) is going to deliver little or no water this year. Zero water deliveries would have big impacts on farm workers, communities, and local economies, particularly those in the San Joaquin Valley.

But other farmers, sometimes the next farm over, are going to get 100% of their allocation from the CVP. What gives?

Some of these farmers (the Exchange Contractors in the San Joaquin Valley and the Sacramento River Settlement Contractors) have claimed extensive water rights dating back to well before the CVP was created. As a result, the Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau), which operates the CVP, supplies these priority contractors with water before delivering any water to other contractors.

Under California’s “first in time, first in right” system of hybrid appropriative water rights, those folks who got here first get their water before anyone else. What all this means is that in a year like this, when water supplies are limited, some folks get all their water, and others get little or no water.

Read more from Doug Obegi & the NRDC Switchboard blog by clicking here.

April 9, 2009 · Filed Under Agriculture, Drought, Weather & Snowpack

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