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Show SUMMARY OF FINDINGS fallowing program in exchange for financial incentives. A rate incentive program could be developed under which farmers would receive rate incentives during normal or wet years in exchange for their agreement to leave land idle ( and unirrigated) during drought years. Rate policies can be used to provide incentives for on- going programs, much as electric utilities provide rate incentives to customers that allow the utility to cycle air conditioners. Utilities could develop special rates applicable to irrigators that agree to use soil moisture probes and evapotranspiration data to minimize over- watering and to time the water application to minimize evaporation losses. Limitations to Implementation of Alternative Irrigation Pricing Policies The CUWCD was legislatively required to complete a Water Pricing Policy Study. CUWCD was not granted any specific authority to mandate pricing policy adoption by purveyors or to regulate in any way the purveyors' selection of pricing policies or levels. However, there appears to be nothing to prevent the CUWCD from including contract provisions that require or prohibit certain pricing policies. This option would be most easily implemented in future contracts. As discussed earlier, CUWCD water has been traditionally sold through long- term contracts. Thus, for " existing" water, the CUWCD has already signed contracts and therefore is limited in its ability to directly influence the retail pricing of said water, unless these contracts are modified. While the elimination of take- or- pay contracts provides a clear opportunity for water conservation, the existence of such contracts provides an obstacle to current efforts to conserve water. As is frequently discussed in the literature, western water law provides disincentives for water users or purveyors with water rights to conserve water rather than using the water. This will limit the ability of the CUWCD, through moral suasion, to influence purveyors to employ conservation pricing policies. A related issue is the lack of metering on the part of irrigators with water rights for water from streams or springs. Quantifying water conservation is impossible without accurate metering. 11 Jones, Stephen M., Ray Ahlbrandt, and Fadi Kamand, " Land Fallowing As A Measure To Conserve Water For Drought Relief," Proceedings Of Conserv93: The New Water Agenda ( American Water Works Association: Denver, Colorado), 1993, pages 1847 - 1855. ES- 31 Executive Summary |