Customers who rely on the state water project are looking at big cut-backs next year. The State Department of Water Resources says it'll only be able to deliver about a quarter of the water that water and irrigation districts have requested. That's the lowest in several years.
But Department Spokesman Don Strickland says that projection may change.
Strickland : If we get precipitation and enough of it, then of course we'll be able to increase that figure. If we don't get any precipitation, there's a possibility we might have to lower it. We hope we don't have to do that, but that is always a possibility.
Strickland says the biggest reason for the low projection is last year's dry winter. The State Water Project delivers water to contractors, including irrigation districts and agencies that supply local communities.
It serves 25 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland. A spokesman with the California Farm Bureau Federation says the short supply may lead farmers to plant fewer crops -- or different crops -- to adjust.
