SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — California water regulators on Tuesday ordered thousands of farmers and ranchers to stop pulling from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in the latest escalation of the state’s bitter drought.
The State Water Resources Control Board blamed the unprecedented emergency action, which will bar farmers in some of the state’s most productive farmland from using river water for the first time, on the worsening drought and climate change. They said the drastic action was necessary to save endangered salmon, protect drinking water and prep the state for the possibility of another dry winter.
With the state mired in its second driest two-year-period on record, the contentious decision is intended to prevent further ecological disaster in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
The effects of California's drought have been worse than the federal government and state predicted, largely because the snowpack in the Sierra melted so quickly and replenished parched soils rather than filling the state’s system of reservoirs. During warmer portions of the year, supplies are pulled from the state’s major reservoirs to cool river temperatures and stem saltwater intrusion downstream in the delta.
But this year, too much water was delivered in the winter and spring and now the water board is cutting off farmers that have relied on surface water for generations in a last ditch effort to improve delta water quality.
As in California’s previous dry spell, the state and federal government have botched management of the delta and parts of the estuary are becoming overly salty as the scorching summer rolls on.
For example, insufficient freshwater inflows to the delta have spurred widespread harmful algae blooms and the state has been forced to spend millions on an emergency rock barrier to keep saltwater from encroaching further toward the pumps that deliver water south to farmers and cities.
The delta is the largest freshwater estuary on the West Coast and the hub of two massive water conveyance projects jointly operated by the state and federal government. The delta props the state’s multi-billion-dollar farming industry and provides drinking water for an estimated 25 million people.
The operators of the Central Valley and State Water projects applauded the water board’s unanimous vote and admitted previous actions taken to preserve water quality in the delta have come up short.
“Despite our best collaborative efforts, the projects continue to struggle to meet temperature and storage targets in reservoirs to meet delta salinity conditions and to provide water for public health and safety,” said Ernest Conant, regional director of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, California-Great Basin region. “We’ve run out of tools and ways to meet all these competing demands.”
The California Department of Water Resources, which manages Lake Oroville and the State Water Project, echoed the bureau’s sentiment.
“It’s critical that the state of California begins to implement this and DWR will offer its support,” added department director Karla Nemeth.
During the last drought some notices of unavailability were sent to some junior delta water rights holders, but the new order applies to the entire watershed.
Under Tuesday’s framework, junior water rights holders will lose their supply first once regulators deem supplies are insufficient, followed by more senior water rights holders. In addition, municipal and commercial water rights holders could be directed to cease diversions if conditions continue to worsen.
When the water board released the proposal last month, it estimated 5,700 water rights holders would be initially impacted by the first batch of curtailments.
California has a complex set of water rights, where people who received diversions from various areas before 1914 have seniority over those who procured water rights later.
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