Trend: Leasing Water Rights During Drought

Farmers and urban areas are experimenting with leasing water rights. In California, the farmers have water and the cities need it.

Here’s what’s going down in the Golden State:

• The Palo Verde Irrigation District in Blythe, CA & the Metropolitan Water District—which supplies municipal water to the Los Angeles area, Orange and San Diego counties, and much of the Inland Empire— have entered into a leasing agreement.
• The farmers  leased millions of gallons of their Colorado River water rights to California’s coastal cities.

Pacific Standard: Could Leasing Water Rights Provide a Way Out of the Drought for California?