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Jerry Brown

Calif. farmers agree to cut water use 25%

Michael Winter
USA TODAY
Gino Celli checks the salinity of water  in an irrigation canal that runs through his fields near Stockton.

In a landmark compromise with California farmers, state regulators Friday agreed to growers' offer to voluntarily reduce their water use by 25% to stave off possibly deeper mandatory cuts amid the worst drought in a century.

The deal comes nearly three weeks after the state imposed mandatory 25% reductions on urban areas. Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency April 1 and ordered conservation measures for all residents, a first in state history.

The state had told farmers in and around the Sacramento Delta and Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers -- the heart of California's agriculture and its water system -- that cuts in their so-called riparian water rights would be coming soon.

The state has already stopped delivering water to many farmers and communities.

The deal marks the first time that the rights of farmers to divert water from rivers and streams for their crops have been challenged. That right was established more than 100 years ago,

Under the deal, farmers have until June 1 to say how they'll use 25% less water until September, typically the start of wetter weather. To meet that goal, farmers could either reduce diversions or fallow land. Officials and farmers indicated many would choose to not plant crops.

The water board said it would make spot checks throughout the growing season.

It's not clear how many farmers will go along with the voluntary cuts, officials said.

"This proposal helps Delta growers manage the risk of potentially deeper curtailment, while ensuring significant water conservation efforts in this fourth year of drought," State Water Board Chairwoman Felicia Marcus said in a statement. "It allows participating growers to share in the sacrifice that people throughout the state are facing because of the severe drought, while protecting their economic well-being by giving them some certainty regarding exercise of the State Water Board's enforcement discretion at the beginning of the planting season."


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