海角大神

Seeing little rain or snowmelt in sight, the California Department of Water Resources for the first time in history said on Friday that rural farms and communities will get little to none of their usual annual allocations of Sierra snowmelt to grow crops and furnish tap water this upcoming year.

As forecasters expect 2014 to be the driest year yet of a three-year drought, water managers in a state where water has long had a complicated relationship with industry, farms, people and politics say they can no longer supply聽annual allocations to聽the 29 million people who take from the San Joaquin River Delta.

The announcement is a 鈥渟tark reminder that California鈥檚 drought is real,鈥� said Gov. Jerry Brown. His warning of a potential 鈥渕egadrought鈥� suggests that the state鈥檚 dry period could last not just years, but centuries, raising the stakes for new water solutions and adjustments in the country鈥檚 most populous state.

To be sure, the 29 various agencies that draw from the critical State Water Project have other sources of water 鈥� primarily wells that draw from deep natural aquifers and manmade reservoirs 鈥� but it鈥檚 far from clear now whether those secondary sources will be able to fill the demand. Already, 17 California communities are about to completely run out of water unless the state gets some rain.

鈥淎 zero allocation is catastrophic and woefully inadequate for Kern County residents, farms and businesses,鈥� said Ted Page, president the Kern County Water Agency's board, whose region will be directly affected by the water board鈥檚 decision. 鈥淲hile many areas of the county will continue to rely on ground water to make up at least part of the difference, some areas have exhausted their supply.鈥�

Friday鈥檚 declaration will hit farmers and rural communities the hardest, since they will likely get none of their expected water from the Delta, which serves as California鈥檚 largest freshwater source and is also a critical wildlife habitat. What water is available will go to urban areas. The biggest problem driving Friday鈥檚 decision is not no rain, but no snow: The Sierra snowpack is only at 12 percent of its average.

California is one of America鈥檚 top farm states, a massive exporter of everything from almonds to wine. It provides more than half of all the nation鈥檚 fruits and vegetables. To be sure, a vast network of private wells already augments allotted surface water, but the extent to which those sources can fill the gap on the 750,000 farmland acres affected by Friday鈥檚 water board decision are not known. Already, some growers and farmers have been forced to take some land out of cultivation for lack of water.

Friday鈥檚 announcement was made to allow farmers time to plan their moves for this upcoming growing season. Farms consume 3 out of 4 gallons of the state鈥檚 freshwater.

If the drought continues, and if a megadrought does indeed develop, California鈥檚 reputation and importance as a crop supplier could be hard-hit, said Maurice Roos, a state hydrologist, in an interview with the Modesto Bee.

"Cities would be inconvenienced greatly and suffer some,鈥� he said. 鈥淪maller cities would get it worse, but farmers would take the biggest hit.鈥�

Meanwhile, it鈥檚 not just California. Next door in southern Oregon, snowpacks are at one-fifth the normal level.

Snowpacks in the Rogue and Umpqua river basins are at 21 percent of average, tying the Klamath Basin for the worst in the state, the Ashland Daily Tidings reported Saturday. Ski resorts on Mt. Ashland and Mt. Shasta have yet to open.

"Our confidence is very low for any significant drought-breaking storm in the immediate future, but there is a shot, I guess," meteorologist Marc Spilde of the National Weather Service office in Medford told the newspaper.

"I don't want to put any silver lining on it, for sure," Mr. Spilde said. "This is ugly."