Growers Face Tough Decisions : Drought: State and local officials are already putting pressure on farmers to curtail their consumption of water.

The four-year drought is only the beginning of what could be a long-term crisis that will force Ventura County growers to tightly conserve water or begin thinking about plowing their fields under, officials said Wednesday.

If the water crisis continues for several years, the officials said farmers could be faced with a shortage that could permanently alter the way they do business.

“It’s not business as usual,” said Greg Middleton, a hydrologist for the United Water Conservation District. “It’s foreseeable that we might be going into some problems we’re not ready for.”

Less than 20 farmers attended a meeting of state and local water officials that was organized by the Ventura County Resource Management Agency to explain the drought’s impact on farmers.

The drought comes at a time when urban encroachment is also eating up agricultural land around Ventura County and creating competition for water, said David Inouye, a land and water use analyst for the state Department of Water Resources.

“People are going to have to modify their behavior to fit in with the changes that are coming,” Inouye said.

Officials expect to see farmers pushed off their land as underground water supplies dry up and the pressure to conserve increases. Loss of agricultural land around the county has already had an impact on local growers, Inouye said.

Between 1961 and 1989, Ventura County lost 7,770 acres of irrigated land to development, according to statistics gathered by the Department of Water Resources. During the same period, the amount of land taken up by housing and businesses more than doubled.

The same report indicated that farmers’ demands for water supplies are projected to drop by about 14% by the year 2010, while demand for water from residential users will leap by 42%.

Most of the water consumed today in Ventura County is used by growers. Farmers use 68% of the water used in the county, about 86% of which comes from underground sources to irrigate 1,752 farms.

City officials and water agencies around the state and county are putting pressure on water users, both farmers and non-agricultural users, to curtail water consumption.

The Department of Water Resources is asking farmers who are supplied by the State Water Project to cut back by 50%, Inouye said, but only a handful of growers will be affected in Ventura County.

The Metropolitan Water District, which receives its water from the State Water Project, supplies a small number of farmers in the Santa Rosa Valley and cities in the eastern part of the county.

Meanwhile, the Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency is considering an ordinance that would reduce pumping out of the Oxnard plain.

The city of Ventura’s water conservation ordinance goes into effect today, forcing customers to cut back about 30%. And the Casitas Municipal Water District is considering a voluntary campaign to reduce demand by 20%.

“We’re out of water,” said Rex Laird, executive director of the Ventura County Farm Bureau. “This is an issue that we’ve been working on in the farm bureau. The rest of society is now catching up with where agriculture has been for a long time.”

Laird said farmers have been trying to cut down on water use for a long time, installing efficient drip-irrigation systems and following strict watering schedules to keep their crops from drying up.

“The vast majority of growers in this county are extremely efficient in their water use,” Laird said.

However, Laird contended that decreased agricultural use in coming years will not necessarily free more water for other residential and commercial users.

“I agree there’s going to be a decrease in water consumption because of efficiency and lack of supply, but I don’t think you should extend that out and say that we’re going to avoid shortages by agriculture saving all of this water,” Laird said.

Officials from the Casitas Municipal Water District are reviewing the efficiency of 270 agricultural customers in their district, which covers the western part of the county.

“Agriculture is part of the increased demands” on declining supplies of water, said Dick Barnett, engineering manager for the Casitas district.

Some farmers said they are already using efficient irrigation systems and could be forced to give up their farms if drought conditions continue.

“I do try to do the most efficient job I can,” said Paul Metzger, a Somis farmer who owns 20 acres of avocado groves.

Metzger said he strictly monitors irrigation in his orchard to the point of under-irrigating his trees.

“At some point, if you cut the water off, you might as well plow it and build homes,” he said.