Growers weren't surprised at Monday's announcement from Westlands Water District that they likely won't be receiving surface water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Over the last three years, ongoing drought and environmental battles over endangered species in the Delta have reduced surface water deliveries to the vanishing point.

However, Monday's zero-allocation warning has served to accelerate changes in planting strategies that growers were already putting into action.

Those changes include letting fields go fallow, cutting down on some crops, and in a few cases, just trying to keep permanent crops alive on limited supplies of well water.

Some 30,000 acres in Kings County, including land at Lemoore Naval Air Station, is part of the district, which is mostly in the western half of Fresno County.

A variety of crops, from pistachios to tomatoes, are grown on district soil.

Dan Errotabere farms 3,600 acres of Westlands ground in the Riverdale area, and is also a member of the district's board of directors.

He's planning to let 1,500 of those acres lie fallow this year because of a lack of water.

When farmers fallow, they leave the ground unplanted but continue eradicating weeds.

Normally, in response to a dry year, Errotabere would simply decide not to plant water-sucking cotton.

This year, he's doing more than put the kibosh on the white fluffy stuff. He's trimming back his acreage of melons, tomatoes and other crops as well.

Errotabere expects to cut his summer workforce in half this year, scaling down from 30 workers to 15 workers.

The number of workers would be greater, except Errotabere doesn't use hand labor for harvesting.

A miracle dumping of snow in the Sierra in the next couple of months would change the picture and give Westlands farmers a certain percentage of the full allocation they are promised in wet years.

But none of them are banking on that happening.

Errotabere has contingency plans to sacrifice his tomato and melon crops in order to shift water to his valuable almonds and pistachios -- permanent tree crops that must have a certain amount of irrigation year-round.

Errotabere, who has been farming Westlands ground since the early 1980s, said he's never seen the water situation this bad.

If Westlands growers get no surface water this year, they'll be relying on salty well water, which isn't good for almond trees and can damage some crops such as lettuce, according to Errotabere

For Tim Larson of J. G. Avila Farms in the Five Points area of Fresno County, Monday's announcement means he'll likely let some of his alfalfa fields die and shift water to drip system he's installing for his tomato crop.

J. G. Avila also farms acreage in Kings County.

Drip systems are becoming increasingly common because they require much less water than flood and row irrigation.

But even that might not be enough to save thirsty Westlands growers.

Larson, too, can't recall the water situation ever reaching a zero allocation.

Short of a miracle, last-minute snowfall, Larson can't see any relief coming.

He noted the impact no water would have on Kings County residents who work on Westlands farmland.

"I think it's huge," Larson said.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2432

(Jan. 21, 2009)