SACRAMENTO (KRON) — Officials with California’s Water Resources Control Board have accepted an officer by some Central Valley farmers to voluntary cut their water supply to avoid deeper cuts in the future.
Officials with the water board made the announcement Friday which will impact farmers in the delta of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers who old some of California’s strongest water rights.
Several hundred farmers made the offer earlier this week, after state officials warned they were days away from ordering some of the first cuts in more than 30 years to the senior water rights holders.
California water law is built around preserving the water claims of those rights holders. The threat of state cuts is a sign of the worsening impacts of the four-year drought.
The state already has mandated 25 percent conservation by cities and towns and curtailed water deliveries to many farmers and communities.
Wednesday, the state water board announced that farmers would no longer be able to pump water from the San Joaquin River watershed.