Westlands plans water rationing
By Dennis Pollock / The Fresno Bee
05/30/08 13:01:31

fter the driest spring in more than 80 years, the Westlands Water District, the nation's largest, has begun rationing water.

Westlands spokeswoman Sarah Woolf said farmers in the 600,000-acre district will receive about two thirds of the water they would normally apply on crops between now and Aug. 3 .

Woolf said shutdowns at pumps because of litigation related to threatened fish, including the Delta smelt, eliminated some 700,000 acre feet of water that would have gone into San Luis Reservoir, which feeds most of the Westlands irrigation supply.

That figure exceeds Westlands' total water allocation from the federal government this year. Mark Borba, a Riverdale grower in the district, said summer crops such as almonds, tomatoes and cotton will suffer.

"Yields will fall, quality will decline, fields will be abandoned, trees may die and unemployment will skyrocket," he said.

Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, has scheduled a briefing Monday in Los Banos to talk about the problem.

At that meeting, officials with the U.S. Bureau of reclamation will provide an update on water issues that could include a reduction in this year's allocation of federal water to Westlands.