Citing drought, US won't give water to California farmers

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- With California entering the third year of severe drought, federal officials said Wednesday they won't deliver any water to farmers in the state's major agricultural region - a decision that will force many to plant fewer crops in the fertile soil that yields the bulk of the nation's fruits, nuts and vegetables.

Water agencies contract with the federal government for certain amounts of water each year. In February, the federal government announces how much of those contracts can be fulfilled based on how much water is available. The government then updates the allocations throughout the year based on conditions.

"Anyone who's looked out the window in the past two months knows that California has not seen any significant rain and snow during what are supposed to be our wettest months of the year," said Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources."While December saw record storms, this type of climate whiplash makes it challenging to forecast conditions ahead.

In a news release, the Westlands Water District said it was disappointed with the allocation but understood the drought and environmental laws"prevent Reclamation from making water available under the District's contract."

All of this could have been avoided by building desalination plants along the coast, more reservoirs and a water pipeline from Canada through Washington and Oregon to purchase/share excess water. But spending Billions on a bullet train from S.F to L.A was more important. 🤦‍♂️

How many more billions are we going to give farmers to raise prices? When will the madness stop!

SoCal where the incompetence on the government lvl is so high they continue to forget it’s a desert and do nothing to help the growing populations by adding more dams or resources… or telling the north forget the delta send them water south

Strawberries, garlic, avocados, mandarins, so much more will be greatly affected. Yikes

So will that mean produce will be in short supply and prices will be going up?

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