The district had used the same Agricultural Table of Average Uses for decades and had only made minor adjustments to add new crops occasionally. District staff understood that many advances in commercial agricultural water use were being used by the agricultural community and that technological advances in measuring accurately how much water was needed for each crop had accelerated over the last few years. The District requested ERA Economics to analyze and update the Table used for Agricultural use.
Please click here to see their report.
The revised Table of Average Uses now takes into account the appropriate method of irrigation for each crop type. (You no longer report watering method.)
The District submitted the proposed updated Table of Average Uses to the Santa Clara County Farm Bureau which reviewed the updates and considers them reasonable. The District’s Agricultural Advisory Committee also reviewed and approved the Table in February 2015. The updated Table of Uses for Agricultural Uses was approved by the Board and adopted Sept. 22, 2015.
-
The updated table lists new crops and also accurately reflects the irrigation method to the crop being planted
-
As can be expected, some of the factors increased, while others decreased
-
The updated table continues to take into account differences in watering during the rainy/dry seasons and variations in wet and dry years
-
Please click here to see a list of all crop factors and how they changed