California IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Report Supports Water Sales to Cities

Water officials have released a report that lists reasons Central Valley farmers should want to sell irrigation water to cities. The report says that agricultural towns will not necessarily whither with their crops because more jobs would be created than lost. The study was commissioned by the Bay Area Economic Forum and was funded by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Agriculture uses more water than manufacturing but creates fewer jobs, the report said. It looked at impacts from a hypothetical idling of 125,000 acres of farmland.