New Report: Sustaining California Agriculture in an Uncertain Future

The great folks out at the Pacific Institute just issued another timely report on water efficiency called Sustaining California Agriculture in an Uncertain Future. As the title suggests, the Pacific Institute outlines an array of strategies that can be implemented to help farmers get the most out of every drop of water and ensure that their farms remain productive in a future where water will become ever more scarce. Although the report uses California examples, its findings and general theme is relevant across the country.

From the Pacific Institute:

The report Sustaining California Agriculture in an Uncertain Future shows that California agriculture can flourish despite diminishing water supply and future uncertainty from climate change, but it will require great strides in increasing the water efficiency of the agricultural sector.

Many farmers and irrigation districts have already been making water-use efficiency improvements. Yet the analysis estimates that potential water savings of 4.5 - 6 million acre-feet each year can be achieved by expanding the use of efficient irrigation technologies and management practices.

Among the key findings from the report is this comparison of water quantities:

For an average water year, the water conservation and efficiency practices identified in this Pacific Institute report have the potential to save 5.6 million acre-feet of water, equivalent to:

• more than 16 times the amount of water that can be stored in the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir;
• triple the water that can be stored in the far larger San Luis Reservoir;
• 4.5 times the water than could be stored in the proposed Temperance Flats Reservoir;
• 19 times the water restored to the environment in the recent Delta smelt ruling;
• more than double the 2.3 million acre-feet in urban efficiency improvements identified in the Pacific Institute’s earlier evaluation of the potential for residential, commercial, and industrial efficiency improvements (Waste Not, Want Not).

This savings represents around 17% of all of the water used by agriculture in California.