The last time California endured a drought, legislators set their sights on the state’s heaviest water users: farmers.
The state designed laws to push agricultural water districts to closely track their water flow and make the largest districts charge farmers based on how much they use. The economic theory is simple: If you aren’t paying for how much water you actually use, you have little incentive to try to consume less.
But those rules are widely being ignored as they come into effect in the midst of one of the state’s most severe droughts on record.
Under a 2009 law, the 55 largest agricultural water districts also are required to more precisely measure how much water each farmer is using. They’re then required to charge farmers — at least in part — on that basis.
The state doesn’t know how many suppliers are meeting this requirement or are even taking steps toward doing so, because almost half of them have failed to turn in the relevant reports, records show.