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Atop a dirt levee his great-grandfather built in the 1800s to hold back California’s mightiest river, Northern California farmer Russell van Loben Sels looks out over the site of a new water project, one that would be the state’s most ambitious in a half-century.

Promoted by Gov. Jerry Brown, the $15.7 billion project would run giant twin pipes, each four stories high, underground for 35 miles and eventually pull thousands of gallons of water a second from the stretch along the Sacramento River where van Loben Sels farms to cities and farms to the south.

Atop a dirt levee his great-grandfather built in the 1800s to hold back California’s mightiest river, Northern California farmer Russell van Loben Sels looks out over the site of a new water project, one that would be the state’s most ambitious in a half-century.

Promoted by Gov. Jerry Brown, the $15.7 billion project would run giant twin pipes, each four stories high, underground for 35 miles and eventually pull thousands of gallons of water a second from the stretch along the Sacramento River where van Loben Sels farms to cities and farms to the south.

State water managers announced this week that 29 State Water Contractors will receive 45 percent of their requested water amounts this year.

Forty-five percent sounds like a glass half full, but the news was cause for celebration for water districts that saw only 20 percent of their water request last year, and 5 percent in 2014. The State Water Project distributes water from Lake Oroville via the Feather River. The 29 agencies provide water to 26 million people in urban areas, as well as 750,000 acres of farmland, a press release from the Department of Water Resources states.

Drought, as applied to agriculture practices in the US State of California, must be evaluated on a different basis than in other parts of the country.

Typically there are extended periods every Summer with little or no precipitation.  This is the normal and expected condition.  So, a deficiency of the precipitation becomes significant in the State when the normal Winter Water supply fails to materialize.  Winter range is also very important in the livestock industry.  An abnormally dry Winter can be disastrous to the raising of cattle. Approximately 90% of California’s Water supply is used for Agriculture.