State Water Project Orders 40% Cut in Supplies to Be Allocated to Farmers

As the California drought heads into a third year, State Water Project operators on Tuesday tentatively ordered water deliveries to agricultural customers cut by 40% from the amounts farmers had requested.

In the first of a series of forecasts made during the winter months, the state Department of Water Resources estimated that the project would deliver 2.5 million acre-feet of water in 1989. An acre-foot of water is enough to cover 1 acre of land to a depth of 1 foot.

Combined, agricultural and urban contractors for State Water Project water have requested 3 million acre-feet. Before urban customers are cut back, agriculture must absorb 50% cuts in its requested allocations.

But one project engineer, Nancy Quan, noted that the reductions to agriculture on Tuesday dealt with the department’s initial estimates of how much water will be available and that the rainy season is barely under way.

“This is still very, very early in the season,” she said, noting that subsequent decisions on allocating water are expected to more fully reflect actual precipitation.

If substantial amounts of precipitation occur from now through March, and storage in drawn-down Northern California reservoirs improves, water deliveries to agriculture probably will reflect the additional rain and snow.