If the feds do this, there will be vigilantes. Farmers who wisely stockpiled water in the San Joaquin Valley may have the water seized by the feds for farmers with senior rights. This is deranged and shows how the convoluted, grossly unfair, arcane system of water rights needs to be thrown out the window and replaced with something sane.
West Valley farmers spent $150 million last year buying some water and storing it in San Luis Reservoir. They were planning ahead for a zero water allocation from the federal Central Valley Project this year.
They face losing the water…The drought may influence the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to seize the water and send it to other west-side farmers who have more senior rights.
A zero water allocation year mean no water at all for Central Valley farmers from the Sacramento Delta and the feds in 2014. Thus, if they don’t have wells and there’s no rain, they’re screwed. Their cattle will go hungry and crops will die. Thus, maybe they decide to go to the reservoir where the water they paid for is stored and stand there with rifles to insure it’s not diverted.. Don’t think this can’t happen…