Farmers In California Delta Beat Goal For Saving Water

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - A group of California farmers who delighted regulators combating the state's drought last year by volunteering to use less water on their crops for the growing season has again surprised officials by exceeding an initial conservation target, officials said Friday.

Farmers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta east of San Francisco last summer used 32 percent less water compared with 2013. That beats a 25 percent goal set by farmers who till land in the Delta east of San Francisco, the State Water Resources Control Board said.

The Delta farmers approached the state with the voluntary cuts as California endured a fourth year of historic drought, the same year Gov. Jerry Brown ordered Californians to use 25 percent less water at their homes and businesses.

In exchange for the farmers' offer, state water regulators agreed not to enforce potentially deeper cuts on them with the possibility of the drought intensifying. The 217 farmers who made the deal hold riparian water rights, the state's oldest water rights, giving them the most secured access to California's rivers and streams.

Farmers saved water by leaving fields unplanted, planting crops that use less water and irrigating their fields less often. Officials inspected the Delta farms throughout the growing season and used satellite images of the Delta to confirm that the farmers were doing as they agreed to in the deal, officials said.

The deal allowed farmers to plan for their growing season with certainty of their water supplies "while helping to relieve pressure on the state's water system during a critical period," said Delta Watermaster Michael George, who oversaw the agreement for the state water board.

State water regulators last year ordered cuts for thousands of farmers and other water users with lesser rights, but they stopped short of curtailing riparian water rights holders, who own land along rivers or streams. Officials say curtailments for these farmers were "narrowly avoided," possibly the result of the voluntary cuts.

The delta accounts for less than 10 percent of the 6.9 million acres of irrigated farmland in California, but it is the hub of the state's water system. About 25 percent of California's water runs through the delta, providing water to farms and communities as far south as San Diego.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.