State Water Board Accepts Hundreds Of Farmers' Offer To Make Voluntary 25 Percent Water Use Cut
SACRAMENTO (KCBS)— The State Water Resources Control Board has accepted an historic offer by farmers to make a 25 percent voluntary water cut to avoid deeper losses later.
Read the full press release:
http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/press_room/press_releases/2015/pr052215_riparian_proposal.pdf
Several hundred farmers in the delta of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers made the offer 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 just how bad the drought has become.