GAO says farmers owe $450 million
A federal watchdog agency said Thursday that some of the San Joaquin Valley’s largest farms owe the government hundreds of millions of dollars for the cost of building California’s water infrastructure.
The report issued Thursday by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office says four large irrigation contractors owe the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation nearly $450 million for building pumps and canals.
The Westlands Water District, a coalition of giant agribusinesses in the San Joaquin Valley, owes an additional $48 million, according to the report.
The farmers are in the midst of negotiating a proposal with the bureau that would forgive some of the cost of building the Central Valley Project, a vast irrigation system that serves the state’s most fertile farmland.
The report makes public for the first time the official size of that debt.
More to Read
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
