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Socio-economic impacts of land retirement in Westlands Water District

Date

2004-10

Authors

Bettner, Thaddeus L., author
U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher

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Abstract

Westlands Water District (Westlands, or the District) in California includes more than 560,000 irrigated acres of diversified crops on some of the most productive soil in the world. Land retirement has been proposed as a solution to two serious problems confronting the District: inadequate drainage on lands overlying shallow groundwater, and insufficient and increasingly unreliable water supply. Large portions of the west side of the San Joaquin Valley are affected by salinity and drainage problems. This affected area includes approximately 300,000 acres of the District's farmland. The U.S. government has long been aware of these problems and congressional authorization of the San Luis Unit facilities mandated drainage service as part of this project. When Westlands entered into a water supply agreement with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), the provision of drainage service was expressly included as a contract term. Although Reclamation has studied the issue for many years, the drainage service options identified are extremely costly and their effectiveness is uncertain. Land Retirement could address two of the District's most significant problems, those being drainage and water supply. But the decision to accept this proposal would not only affect the District farms. In addition, communities, employees, and businesses depend on the District's agricultural economy. In order to help the District make an informed decision on land retirement, Westlands completed an economic impact analysis.

Description

Presented during the USCID water management conference held on October 13-16, 2004 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The theme of the conference was "Water rights and related water supply issues."

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