Water troubles continue to plague farmers in California as the state tries to find a solution to its drought problems. Several regions are considering options to lessen the woes, including looking at new legislation and water transfer deals.
“Fish and Wildlife regulations tightly control water resources in the state, making it impossible earlier this year for the reservoirs to capture the rain, when it fell late last fall,” the report reads. “And because of the endangered species in the region, pumping water is also restricted, leaving farmers high and dry.”
Farmers are able to purchase only 20 percent of the water in their contracts with Central Valley Project, which controls water resources in the area. If the region doesn’t get enough moisture again this winter, that number could drop for farmers in 2014. That means more of them are buying water on the market not only in the valley, but in many parts of the state.
That’s not easy on the pocketbooks. In 2009, during California’s last drought, water was being sold for around $450 per square acre-foot. Now it’s running about $1,000.
In Oakdale, talks are underway between its irrigation district and those in nearby Modesto and Turlock, according to The Modesto Bee. At issue is whether the latter two districts might buy some of Oakdale’s Stanislaus River supply, secured through years of strict conservation efforts by the district.
Earlier this year, the Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) sold water to parts of the West Side for $100 per acre-foot. It has considered a one-year selling agreement to San Francisco and a long-term sales agreement to nearby Brisbane, but the bottom line for critics is that water should be sold for farming in the region, not be transferred elsewhere.
Politicians also are stepping up. Late last month, U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) introduced legislation that would allow the OID and the South Joaquin Irrigation District to enter into a Warren Act Contract with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to store up to 100,000 acre-feet of water in New Melones Reservoir.
For now, all negotiations and suggested plans do little to ease the stress of farmers. Fewer row crops have been planted this year, and unless things dramatically improve this fall and winter it’s likely even fewer will be planted next year. PD
—Compiled from various sources
