California water regulators are praising some Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta farmers for coming up with a program to voluntarily cut water use.
The State Water Resources Control Board today approved a deal in which farmers with some of the oldest rights to divert water from rivers would reduce use by 25-percent or fallow 25-percent of their land. The board says those farmers who participate would no longer risk future water curtailments. Felicia Marcus is Chair of the water board.
Marcus: Speaking personally, I appreciate the practical approach that some senior water rights holders have offered that offer us some real water versus words, and while there are arguments and legal decisions in all of our futures, it is significant that these folks are offering water to step up in the drought.
Farmers who want to volunteer to cut use must submit a plan to the State Water Resources Control Board by June first.
The Delta accounts for less than 10-percent of irrigated farmland in California.