California farmers and ranchers face another challenge to their operations as the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) mailed early warning notices to approximately 40,000 water rights holders.
“Planting crops and other decisions that are dictated by water supply are made early in the year, so early warnings are vital,” said Erik Ekdahl, deputy director for the SWRCB’s Division of Water Rights. “These letters give water users time to prepare and help minimize the impacts of reduced supplies on businesses, farms and homes.”
SWRCB, in their press release, stated the snowpack as of March 10 is 63 percent of average, and officials don’t expect the April 1 snow survey to “reveal significant improvement in the water supply outlook this year.”
SWRCB urged agriculture water users to “implement practical actions now to improve their drought resilience” by reducing irrigation acreage and using innovative irrigation practices, managing herd size and “diversifying water supply portfolios.”
The California Cattlemen’s Association (CCA), in their weekly newsletter, stated the letters are not curtailment orders or notices of unavailability of water, but they may be forthcoming in the next few months.
CCA stated it has been in communication with SWRCB’s Division of Water Rights regarding the early warning and has renewed concerns raised during the 2015 curtailments.
In 2015, the State Water Board issued a Notice of Surface Water Shortage and Potential for Curtailment of Water Right Diversions, telling water right holders in critically dry watersheds to limit or stop water diversions under their water rights. The state experienced drought in the three previous water years, and the snowpack in 2015 was 16 percent of average in the northern Sierra Nevada Mountains and 21 percent in central and southern Sierras.
The U.S. Drought Monitor report in March 2015 showed 41 percent of the state was in exceptional drought (D4). Then-Gov. Jerry Brown (D) imposed a 25 percent reduction in water use to the state’s 400 water agencies.
According to CCA’s weekly newsletter, SWRCB has assured CCA staff that there will be an opportunity for stakeholder input before any curtailment orders.
The announcement by SWRCB comes on the heels of a letter sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) from Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on March 5. Vilsack declared “50 California counties as primary natural disaster areas due to the recent drought.”
Vilsack has designated the state’s eight remaining counties—Monterey, Orange, San Benito, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and Ventura—as “contiguous disaster counties.”
The designation by Vilsack makes producers in those counties “eligible to be considered for certain assistance from the Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided eligibility requirements are met.”
Ranchers are urged to contact their local FSA office to see what programs are available to them and which programs they qualify for. The deadline is eight months from the disaster declaration.
Counties in Oregon, Nevada and Arizona surrounding those designated as primary natural disaster areas are also designated as contiguous disaster counties and eligible for disaster assistance. — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
