Calif Water Deal No Quick Fix for Struggling Farms

In this photo taken Thursday, Nov. 11, 2009, Farmer Bill Koster plants dryland wheat on farm land he...

In this photo taken Thursday, Nov. 11, 2009, Farmer Bill Koster plants dryland wheat on farm land he works near Vernalis, Calif., Thursday, Nov. 11, 2009. A package of water measures to rebuild California's water system, passed by the Legislature last week, was touted to help provide farmers with more water. Yet the legislation will not produce measurable results for farmers for years. Koster, who fallowed 600 acres of land due to drought and federal orders to reduce pumping water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, said if the drought continues he, along with many other farmers, won't be in business by the time the legislation is implemented.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

(AP)

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was promoting a complex legislative package to rebuild California's water system, he often appeared alongside farmers who were unable to cultivate their land amid a third year of drought and federal pumping restrictions.

Yet agricultural relief from the bills signed into law by Schwarzenegger will not be immediate, meaning the state that grows half the nation's fruit, vegetables and nuts will face a repeat of this year's tough times unless the winter brings epic rain and snowfall.

Most of the reforms included in the legislation won't produce measurable results for years, and the projects funded through an $11.1 billion water bond are far from getting started — and that's assuming voters pass the spending measure in November 2010.

"We'll be all gone by the time it gets implemented," said Bill Koster, whose family has farmed in the Central Valley for 129 years. "If we have another drought year, we're toast. Forget it, we're done."

California farmers this year left about 500,000 acres unplanted in the Central Valley because of the ongoing drought, conditions that are compounded by federal orders to reduce pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta as a way to protect a native fish.

So little water was available to Koster that he fallowed 600 acres of what would have been a wheat and barley crop. That's nearly two-thirds of his fields in Vernalis, about 70 miles south of Sacramento. What little water he did receive kept his almond and walnut trees alive.

If passed by voters, the bond part of the legislative water package could lead to the construction of two dams, with some of the water in the new reservoirs destined for farms. It also would launch a major restoration project for the delta, the largest since rescue efforts for the Florida Everglades started in 2000.

Policy changes included in other bills mandate statewide conservation for cities, require local water districts to monitor groundwater levels, and change how California manages the delta, the largest estuary on the West Coast and the conduit through which water for two-thirds of the state passes.