California, USA– The authorities have made the announcement in they would pay the farmers not to plant on thousands of acres of land as part of a $2.9 billion plan, with the objective of saving water.
As per the sources, the authorities have the aim of more water flow in the major rivers and streams in the state.
Moreover, the agreement was signed on Tuesday, March 29, by the state and federal officials and some of the biggest water agencies in California. This would result in around 35,000 acres of rice fields that were left unused, or approximately 6 percent of the state’s normal crop every year, as per the California Rice Commission.
The result has been combined with other measures that would be up to an extra 824,000 acre-feet (1 billion cubic meters) of water every year flowing via the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
Along with this, one acre-foot of water is over 325,000 gallons which are usually sufficient to supply two average households for around one year.
The state and federal governments and the water agencies will contribute the funds and which, for the first time, have agreed to the tax themselves to help pay the farmers who have more senior water rights not to plant some of the crops.
Meanwhile, the governor of California named Gavin Newsom mentioned, “We don’t have to choose between healthy ecosystems or a healthy economy. We can choose a path that provides for both. This is a meaningful, hard-earned step in the right direction.”
Furthermore, some environmental groups have not agreed. The extra water has made the announcement on Tuesday, March 29, that would be about half of the state regulators in 2018 stated that they required to protect the environment entirely, as per Doug Obegi, a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
