Central California water district gets permanent U.S. contract for massive irrigation deliveries

The Los Angeles Aqueduct carries water from the snowcapped Sierra Nevada Mountains to major urban areas of Southern California on May 9, 2008, near Lone Pine. (David McNew / Getty Images)

by: Los Angeles Times

Posted: Feb 28, 2020 / 08:18 PM PST

Updated: Feb 28, 2020 / 08:18 PM PST

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The Interior Department on Friday awarded the nation’s largest farm water district a permanent entitlement to annual irrigation deliveries that amount to roughly twice as much water as the nearly 4 million residents of Los Angeles use in a year.

Gaining a permanent contract for so much cheap Central Valley Project water represents a major milestone for Westlands Water District, which supplies some of the state’s wealthiest growers and has long-standing ties to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt.

But the new pact, which would take effect June 1, provides no refuge for Westlands from California’s acrimonious water wars.

The district, which has rarely received its full contract amount in recent decades, will remain low in the federal project’s pecking order and will continue to be among the first cut in times of shortage.

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