There are dry times ahead for local farmers, San Benito County Water District Manager Lance Johnson said Thursday.
The county's supply of imported San Felipe water has already taken a hit from a recent court ruling to protect the delta smelt, a threatened two-inch fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, Johnson said. Making matters worse is continuing dry weather - in November, rainfall at watersheds throughout the state was around 12 percent of normal.
"It's pretty scary, isn't it?" Johnson said.
In a normal year, San Benito County receives 35 percent to 50 percent of its contracted agricultural water supply, Johnson said. With the delta smelt decision, state officials have said the county will receive 30 percent to 35 percent of its supply in 2008, but Johnson said 25 percent is more likely.
"I say that based on my experience studying, analyzing and modeling (Central Valley Project) water for 20 years," he said. "I hate to say it, but if it stays dustbowl dry the way it has been, 25 percent is likely to go down."
That means farmers could be allotted only half the San Felipe water they were given this year, or less, Johnson said. And the supply could be even more limited until "April, May or June," he said.
With its reserves drained, the county is also increasing the fines for farmers who use more than their allotted amount of San Felipe water, Johnson said. In the past, the county billed farmers around $160 per acre-foot of excess water use, but it will be charging $540 in 2008.
San Benito County Farm Bureau President George Bonacich, an apricot grower, said Johnson has informed local growers about the impending shortage.
"How can you plan a crop that way?" Bonacich said. "You're going to see a lot of fallow land."
He added that changing the weather patterns are making farming an unpredictable and risky endeavor.
"It's hard to estimate anything," Bonacich said. "Mother Nature will do what it wants to do."
Water district representatives have said the San Felipe system provides water to around 400 San Benito County farms of 10 acres or more. To reduce the impact of the shortage, Johnson said he's encouraging farmers to ensure that their groundwater wells and pumps are "up to speed" and to start thinking about ways to conserve.
"Every acre-foot of water that you can conserve, you have that much more land that you can plant," he said.
Anthony Ha Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or aha@freelancenews.com.
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