Water shortage no surprise in the south

Up to one million acres of farmland won’t receive a CVP water allocation

Cecilia Parsons
Capital Press

February 26, 2009

Even though the zero-water delivery wasn't official until Feb. 20 and recent storms have helped with the Sierra snowpack, farmers south of the Delta were already preparing for the worst. The projected water delivery announcement on Friday by water officials wasn't a surprise.

No Central Valley Project water will be delivered to Westlands, Panoche and San Luis water districts and Tranquility and James irrigation districts along with 17 other districts along the Valley's west side.

Friant deliveries to east side growers amount to 25 percent of normal, but they are in jeopardy if districts with senior water rights claim a share.

In the south valley, Kern County Water Agency reports it will only receive 15 percent of its State Water Project allotment.

These are record low surface water delivery amounts and follow two years of short deliveries caused by drought and court-ordered pumping restrictions from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Based on the Feb. 1 forecast for runoff, up to one million acres of farmland won't receive a CVP water allocation this year. Growers with groundwater will turn to pumping to sustain crops. Others can try to buy water, but both options add to the cost of production and may not be feasible.

"These are challenging times, and Reclamation will continue to explore all options within our authorities to minimize the impacts to those affected by this water shortage," said Donald Glaser, regional director for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Glaser, Ron Milligan of the Sacramento bureau office and Michael Jackson from the Fresno bureau office delivered the water supply forecast for farmers south of the Delta in Fresno on Feb. 20.

Growers in the highly productive Westlands water district plan to fallow up to 300,000 acres of open ground this year - meaning less food for the nation's dinner table. Even some permanent crops will be abandoned.

"They're pushing out older almond groves; some aren't using bees this year, and others are going to prevent fruit set," said Westlands spokeswoman Sarah Woolfe. Row crops in the highly productive district will take a bigger hit.

Woolfe said spring and fall lettuce crops wouldn't be planted. Melons, onion, garlic and other vegetables that can't be grown with lower quality groundwater won't be planted. Processing tomatoes, which can handle the higher salinity water, will be grown.

To the east, Friant water users can only expect 200,000 acre feet, or 25 percent of normal deliveries, in a year - and that's Class 1 water. Class 2 water, for those with access to ground water or other sources, won't be available.

For the first time in the history of the Friant division, there looms the possibility that the four San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors - with historic river water rights - will claim their share.

Ron Jacobsma, general manager of Friant Water Authority, said there is grave concern that east side irrigation districts that receive Friant water will be impacted by claims by west side water districts.

"If we don't have to lose that water to exchange contractors we'll just squeak by," said Jacobsma of the 200,000 acre feet allotted to Friant.

Dan Nelson, executive director of the San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority said the supply announcement shows how broken California's water system is. Three years of drought is part of the problem, but Nelson pointed to the Delta pumping restrictions and water supply systems.

"When this drought breaks we will still have water shortages in California until we fix our storage, conveyance and management systems," Nelson said. "There are actions that can be taken now to more efficiently manage the constraints placed upon our water supply system on order to protect endangered species."