Feds Say California Farmers Will Go Without Water Allocations For Now During Drought
TRACY (CBS13) — Hundreds of California farmers learned the can't expect water from the federal government as the state struggles through another year of a drought.
The Central Valley Project is a series of canals and reservoirs that provide water to six of the Top 10 agricultural counties in California.
The Bureau of Reclamation announced on Friday that agricultural customers should expect zero percent of their contracted water, based on current reservoir storage and snowpack. The zero-percent allocation will be reevaluated on a monthly basis.
While a storm is expected to roll through Northern California this weekend, it is not expected to provide significant rainfall, and certainly not enough to change the allocation. That means without more rain, farmers could see the consequences, as well as shoppers at the supermarket.
"California is the breadbasket of the world, the food basket of the world, the Central Valley is a very important part of that," said Modesto farmer and California Farm Bureau president Paul Wenger.
He's not affected by the decision to allocate no water from the reservoirs through the CVP, but he says it puts those farmers in a bad spot.
"They're being forced to pump out of the ground," he said.
Wegner says those farmers and their crops will have to rely on groundwater, and with the drought looming over farm producer's heads, he says they'll have to spend money on special equipment to dig deeper for water.
"We will see more people out of work, and we will see food prices increase," he said.
Farmers may also have to contend with new groundwater rules signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in September
