Grants to ease Calif. water shortages

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Federal agencies pledged Thursday to send nearly

$60 million in grants to help California communities, farms and dairies suffering from ongoing water shortages.

The money includes

$40 million from President Obama's stimulus package aimed at drought-relief projects, the bulk of which will go to the San Joaquin Valley, where three years of dry weather and irrigation cutbacks have crippled production and caused severe unemployment.

The announcement was welcome news for farmers on the west side of Fresno County, the most productive agricultural county in the nation.

Farms in the area are receiving only 10 percent of their federal water allocation this year.

The biggest winner was the sprawling Westlands Water District, which received a total of $9.5 million in grants from both agencies.

The district, which produces about $1 billion in crops annually and is one of Fresno County's biggest employers, says the water shortages have meant that hundreds of thousands of acres used to grow lettuce, tomatoes and other crops have been fallowed this year.

The grants from USDA will help Westlands farmers save enough water to irrigate 1,000 more acres and put about 800 people to work, said Tom Birmingham, the district's general manager.

More than $2.2 million will be spent so U.S. Geological Survey scientists can monitor how increased pumping affects California's central aquifer, which some state scientists fear could sink enough to slow delivery of water to Southern California.