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California Farms and Bay Area Cities Ordered to Stop Diverting Water From Rivers

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James and Sean Greene

Responding to California’s extreme drought, state water regulators have ordered many farmers, agricultural water districts and cities to stop diverting water from rivers and streams along the San Joaquin River.

Starting Wednesday, the State Water Resources Control Board is making “significant, very deep cuts” for water users, primarily in the San Joaquin River watershed, said Erik Ekdahl, deputy director of the state water board’s water rights division.

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State Imposes Sweeping Ban on Pumping River Water in San Joaquin Valley, Bay Area

/in , /by /CalMattersby Rachel Becker

In sweeping water curtailments stretching from Fresno to the Oregon state line, cities and growers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed have been ordered to stop pumping from rivers and streams.

The cutbacks, announced today by the State Water Resources Control Board, will affect 4,252 water rights in the Delta watershed, including 400 or more held by 212 public water systems, beginning Wednesday. But they’re concentrated around the San Joaquin River and its tributaries, where state officials expect “significant, very deep cuts.”

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Facing ‘Dire Water Shortages,’ California Bans Delta Pumping

/in , /by /CalMattersby Rachel Becker

In an aggressive move to address “immediate and dire water shortages,” California’s water board today unanimously approved emergency regulations to temporarily stop thousands of farmers, landowners and others from diverting water from from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed.

The new regulations — the first to take such widespread action for the massive Delta watershed stretching from Fresno to the border with Oregon — could lead to formal curtailment orders for about 5,700 water rights holders as soon as Aug. 16. The decision comes on the heels of curtailment orders issued to nearly 900 water users along the drought-stricken Russian River, with 222 more expected next week.

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