A proposal in the state Senate would spend up to $1.5 billion to buy “senior water rights” that allow farmers to take as much water as needed from the state’s rivers and streams to grow their crops. If state officials owned those rights, they could leave the water in the rivers to benefit endangered species of salmon and other fish.
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For this to work, farmers would have to voluntarily sell their valuable water rights — something Birmingham says shouldn’t be a problem. Lots of farmers try to sell their water rights to Westlands Water District every year, Birmingham said.
“For many farmers … their children simply are not interested in continuing to farm,” Birmingham said.
But state Sen. Brian Dahle, a republican running for governor whose family has been farming in California for 92 years, said the only reason farmers would be willing to sell is because state officials are driving them out of business with burdensome regulations.
