For the first time in nearly a century, farmers who normally receive canal water from the Fresno Irrigation District will get no regular deliveries this year.
Fresno Irrigation general manager Gary Serrato said Thursday that the board decided to make only minimal water available for groundwater-recharge uses because its entitlement from the Kings River will be too small to provide water to farms in the 250,000-acre district.
Meanwhile, several other Valley water agencies and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced a deal Thursday that could provide up to 60,000 acre-feet of water to east-side growers.
A fourth consecutive dry year has plunged much of the state, including the San Joaquin Valley, into a drought, triggering tough decisions by water managers, local government and farmers. And while some districts are cutting back on deliveries, agreements are being made to provide water to other farmers.
Serrato said this is believed to be the first time in the district’s 95 years of existence — and the first time in the Fresno area’s 145-year history of canal irrigation — that no regular water deliveries will be provided to farms. The district is receiving nothing from its entitlements to Class 2 water from the Central Valley Project’s San Joaquin River or Friant Division.
“This is unprecedented,” Serrato said. “This is the first time we have not been able to provide at least one irrigation run.”
Fresno Irrigation District farmer Gene Branch said that while the news was not unexpected, it was still sobering.