Report: California needs to think small to save water

FRESNO, Calif. — By investing in water-saving technology, California’s drought-burdened farmers could save enough water annually to fill four times over a reservoir that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger supports building, according to a report released last week.

The study by the nonprofit Pacific Institute urges regulatory agencies and lawmakers to focus on farm investments rather than large infrastructure projects such as the Temperance Flat Reservoir. Doing so could ensure more reliable water supplies as a warming planet increases the length and frequency of droughts, the report suggested.

“We need to start thinking of investing in these efficiency improvements,” said lead author Heather Cooley. “That’s what will give the biggest bang for the buck.”

As California suffers its third year of drought and critical fish species decline in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta estuary, reductions in pumping to farmers and municipal users have some clamoring for new reservoirs and canal systems to protect the state’s $39 billion agriculture industry.

“This is one of the pieces that needs to be dealt with as we look at our water future, but it’s not the piece that’s going to save us,” said Doug Mosebar, president of the California Farm Bureau. “We need water storage, conservation and desalination.”

The report said water-intensive flood irrigation has certainly declined since 2001, when 60 percent of farmers used it, but the method still is widely used in some areas.

From 2003 to 2005, San Joaquin Valley farmers spent $1.5 billion on water-saving technology, Mosebar said.

Many farmers with historic water rights have no incentive to conserve, the report said, because they get their full allocation of canal water every year no matter the weather conditions, while others get none.

The report said water contracts should be renegotiated to reflect the new reality of a dwindling supply.