California farmers agree to drastically cut water use

In this photo taken Monday, May 18, 2015, Gino Celli inspects wheat nearing harvest on his farm near Stockton, Calif. Celli, who farms 1,500 acres of land and manages another 7,000 acres, has senior water rights and draws his irrigation water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Farmers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta who have California's oldest water rights are proposing to voluntarily cut their use by 25 percent to avoid the possibility of even harsher restrictions by the state later this summer as the record drought continues.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) In this photo taken Monday, May 18, 2015, Gino Celli inspects wheat nearing harvest on his farm near Stockton, Calif. Celli, who farms 1,500 acres of land and manages another 7,000 acres, has senior water rights and draws his irrigation water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Farmers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta who have California's oldest water rights are proposing to voluntarily cut their use by 25 percent to avoid the possibility of even harsher restrictions by the state later this summer as the record drought continues.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

By Associated Press May 23, 2015 4 min read

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California farmers who hold some of the state’s strongest water rights avoided the threat of deep mandatory cuts when the state accepted their proposal to voluntarily reduce consumption by 25 percent amid one of the worst droughts on record.

Officials hope the deal agreed upon on Friday will serve as a model for more such agreements with growers in the nation’s top-producing farm state, where agriculture accounts for 80 percent of all water drawn from rivers, streams and the ground.

“We’re in a drought unprecedented in our time. That’s calling upon us to take unprecedented action,” Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the state Water Resources Control Board, said in announcing the agreement.

The rare concession from the farmers is the latest indication of the severity of the water shortage in California, which is suffering through its driest four years on record.

California water law is built around preserving the rights of so-called senior rights holders – farmers and others whose acreage abuts rivers and streams, or whose claims to water date back a century or more, as far back as Gold Rush days.