It’s official, California does not have enough water to grow our food and supply communities. The Department of Water Resources has now taken unprecedented action to conserve water, and it will effect everyone in the state. Sabrina Hill has more.
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The Department of Water Resources says due to the drought and the current water crisis, everyone in the state– farmers, fish, and people in our cities and towns – will get less water. Except for a small amount of carryover water from 2013, customers of the State Water Project will get no deliveries in 2014 if conditions stay the way they are now. Never before in the 54-year history of the State Water Project has the Department of Water Resources announced a zero allocation to all of the 29 public water agencies that buy from the project. These deliveries help supply water to 25 million Californians and about 750,000 acres of irrigated farmland.
In addition, deliveries to agricultural districts with long-standing water rights in the Sacramento Valley may be cut 50 percent – the maximum permitted by contract – depending upon future snow survey results.
Nearly all areas served by the SWP have other sources of water, such as groundwater, local reservoirs, and other supplies, however it is a significant blow to farmers who rely on that water.