As farmers across Palo Verde Valley reduce irrigation on portions of their land to conserve water and help stabilize the Colorado River, the Metropolitan Water District Board of Directors this week took action to mitigate the impact of that temporary land fallowing and strengthen the greater Palo Verde Valley community.

Metropolitan’s board voted Tuesday to join with the Palo Verde Irrigation District to fund up to $8 million for a community improvement program that will support business development, public health, schools, public safety and other projects that benefit the Palo Verde Valley, which stretches across Riverside and Imperial counties.

“When Lake Mead hit a record low three years ago, California cities and farmers came together to help avert a pending crisis by reducing their use of Colorado River water. The farmers in the Palo Verde Irrigation District stepped up and agreed to do their part. Now it’s time for us to build on past efforts by investing in their community and supporting its success,” said Metropolitan board chair Adán Ortega, Jr.

Landowners in the Palo Verde Valley agreed to fallow nearly 26,000 acres of farmland – nearly 30% of the farmland in the valley – for three years, under a 2023 agreement between PVID, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Metropolitan. The agreement builds on a long-standing land fallowing program between Metropolitan and PVID, through which farmers are paid to refrain from irrigating a portion of their land. From 2023 through 2026, the fallowing program is being funded by Reclamation as part of the federal initiative to help stabilize the Colorado River through 2026.

Under the agreement, Palo Verde farmers conserve 117,000 acre-feet per year, equivalent to nearly 2 feet of water in Lake Mead. An acre-foot is enough water to meet the demands of three average Southern California households.

This water conserved by Palo Verde farmers is helping California meet a commitment made in 2023 to contribute at least 1.6 million acre-feet of water to Lake Mead by the end of 2026, said Metropolitan General Manager Deven Upadhyay.

“We must all do our part to build a more sustainable Colorado River by reducing our use. And we must find ways to do that while supporting communities, whether urban or rural,” Upadhyay said. “We are committed to working with our agricultural partners to develop programs that allow us all to thrive, even while using less water.”

The new Palo Verde investment program is being jointly funded by Metropolitan and PVID. The agencies will work together to solicit funding proposals from the community, evaluate them, and select recipients. Potential recipients include city services, schools, hospitals and small businesses.

The new program builds on a Community Improvement Fund established when Metropolitan and PVID first forged their land fallowing agreement in 2005. Metropolitan launched the Community Improvement Fund by providing $6 million to the non-profit agency in 2007. It has since provided dozens of loans to local small businesses and grants to organizations that support workforce training and small business development in the Palo Verde Valley, supporting the creation and retention of hundreds of jobs.

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