California orders large water cuts for farmers

Drought-stricken California on Friday ordered the largest cuts on record to farmers holding some of the state's strongest water rights. State water officials told more than a hundred senior rights holders in California's Sacramento, San Joaquin and delta watersheds to stop pumping from those waterways.

The move by the State Water Resources Control Board is the first time that the state has forced large numbers of senior water rights holders to curtail their use. Those rights holders include water districts that serve thousands of farmers and others.

The move shows California is sparing fewer and fewer users in the push to cut back on water use during the state's four-year drought. Agriculture accounts for 80 percent of water consumption in the state.

"We are now at the point where demand in our system is outstripping supply for even the most senior water rights holders," said Caren Trgovcich, the board's chief deputy director.

The order applies to farmers and others whose rights to water were staked more than a century ago. Many farmers holding those senior water rights contend the state has no authority to order cuts. The reductions are enforced largely on an honor system because there are few meters and sensors in place to monitor consumption.

California has already ordered water use cuts by cities and towns and by many other farmers. In April, Gov. Jerry Brown signed an order to reduce water use in the state by 25 percent in the next year. He later called for up to $10,000 fines for business and residents found to have wasted the most water.

The move on Friday went further, marking the first significant mandatory cuts because of drought for senior water rights holders since the last major drought, in the late 1970s. 

One group of farmers with prized claims have made a deal with the state to voluntarily cut water use by 25 percent to be spared deep mandatory cuts in the future.

The San Joaquin River watershed runs from the Sierra Nevada to San Francisco Bay and is a key water source for farms and communities.

Thousands of farmers with more recent, less secure claims to water have already been told to stop all pumping from the San Joaquin and Sacramento watersheds. They are turning to other sources of water, including wells, reservoirs and the expensive open market.

Some farmers have built their businesses around that nearly guaranteed access to water.

Jeanne Zolezzi, an attorney for two small irrigation districts serving farmers in the San Joaquin area, said she plans to go to court next week to stop the board's action. She said her clients include small family farms that grow permanent crops such as apricots and walnuts without backup supplies in underground wells or local reservoirs they can turn to when they can't pump from rivers and streams.

"A lot of trees would die, and a lot of people would go out of business," she said. "We are not talking about a 25 percent cut like imposed on urban. This is a 100 percent cut — no water supplies."

California water law is built around preserving the rights of such senior rights holders. The state last ordered drought-mandated curtailments by senior water rights holders from 1976 to 1977, but that order affected only a few dozen rights holders.

Since Brown's announcement of restrictions in the spring, some have criticized the state's policies for exempting other large-scale water users, including bottling facilities, of which there are more than 100 across the state.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press