California Growers Get Early Drought Warning
March 22, 2022 California’s farms and cities that draw drinking and irrigation water from California’s major rivers were ordered this week to prepare for mandatory cutbacks. The State Water Resources Control Board announced it was sending letters to approximately 20,000 water right holders — farmers and cities with historical legal claims to river water.
According to a report in the Sacramento Bee, the letter says they should expect to stop pulling water in the coming weeks — and even earlier than last year. It wasn’t until last August that the water board ordered thousands of water users to cut their water use on the Sacramento and San Joaquin river watersheds — arguably the two most important rivers in the state. The fact that the board is warning in March about similar curtailment orders is a sign of the deepening severity of the drought.
“We are experiencing historic dry conditions: February is usually California’s wettest month, but January and February 2022 were the driest we’ve seen in recorded history,” the letter reads. “Statewide, precipitation is less than half the yearly average, and dry conditions are forecast to continue through spring. Last year, extreme drought conditions led to unprecedented actions by the State Water Board that included curtailment of water rights in many California watersheds.”
The letter is directed to water rights holders across much of California. Like last year, the state warned those who pull water from the waterways that feed into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to expect cuts. That affects a massive swath of the state — from Mount Shasta to Modesto to Bakersfield — due to the various tributaries that flow into the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers.
Subscribe Today For
