News

Water deliveries cut in central California

State and federal water officials in California announced Friday that deliveries of state water to agricultural and municipal users south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta will drop to zero due to the severe drought. Allocations had been cut to five percent in the area which lies  between Sacramento and San Francisco. It will be the first time that the state has taken such drastic action.

State Water Resources Director Mark Cowin tells the Sacramento BEE “There’s not enough water to go around.” He also said that releases from severely depleted state and federal reservoirs would be dropped to the minimum necessary to prevent salt water intrusion into the Delta.

The reduction is one of a series of steps that water authorities are taking to curtail use because the state is in the third and worst year of drought.

Agricultural production accounts for most of the state’s water use and is expected to be hit the hardest by the reduction.