Arnie eating fruit

The allocations are hard for farmers to swallow

Despite California's wettest autumn and winter in four years, the federal Bureau of Reclamation has allocated the state's water contractors just 5 per cent of their contracted quantities from the federal water project.

The forecast was released on 26 February and was based on conditions at the start of the month, however the bureau said the allocation may be increased to as much as 30 per cent if wet conditions continued.

"It is a little frustrating in that we've had adequate rainfall," said Westlands Water District spokeswoman Sarah Woolf, whose company provides water to more than 500,000 acres (202,342ha) of San Joaquin Valley farmland.

Ms Woolf said Westlands Water District has appealed directly to US secretary of the interior Ken Salazar to have the water allocation increased to 30 per cent.

At the same time, the California Department of Water Resources announced it had increased from 5 per cent to 15 per cent the anticipated 2010 state water project deliveries to contractors.

If the final allocation announced in the spring remains at 15 per cent, it will mark the lowest ever water allocation in the state water project's almost 50-year history.

Three years of drought and restrictions on pumping led to over 500,000 acres of farmland lying dormant in the San Joaquin Valley in 2009, The Packer reported.

"For farmers and their employees, this is like a nightmare that you can't
wake up from," said the California Farm Bureau Federation's president Paul Wenger.

"What makes it worse is that, unlike previous years, these low allocations come at a time when snowpack levels stand near average and our reservoirs are refilling."

The area's five year average for federal agriculture water allocation is 57 per cent and statistics show the rainfall in Fresno is nearly 10 per cent above the seasonal average, making the current allocations a bitter pill for farmers.

The final federal forecast, due to be announced in two months, may come too late for San Joaquin farmers as the 5 per cent allotment means most will be unable to secure financing for seed and fertiliser.

"You cannot get a bank loan on 5 per cent; you can on 30 per cent," Ms Woolf said. "People will not be put back to work at 5 per cent; workers will be hired at 30 per cent."