Emergency drought legislation (SB 103) signed earlier this month by Governor Brown allocates $10 million to the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) for on-farm water conservation practices throughout the state. The funding will be used to establish the CDFA Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program, a grant program to increase water conservation through efficiencies and better management and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency.
Two public stakeholder meetings have been scheduled in April 2014 to explain the new program and to receive comments and suggestions. These public meetings will be held on the following dates and at the following locations:
Friday, April 11, 2014 – 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
CDFA Headquarters
Main Auditorium – 1st floor
1220 N Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
Friday, April 18, 2014 – 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Stanislaus County Agricultural Center
Harvest Hall, Room DE
3800 Cornucopia Way
Modesto, CA 95358
More information about this program, including a conceptual framework of the grant program, will be available at: http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/EnvironmentalStewardship/H2O_EandE.html
Program implementation will be on or before July 1, 2014.
Visit www.Drought.CA.Gov to learn more about how California is dealing with the effects of the drought, and for more water conservation ideas, visit www.SaveOurH2O.org