CFWC: Pacific Institute water report flawed

The California Farm Water Coalition today called a Pacific Institute report on water conservation "misleading," "fanciful" and "nutty."

The September report said the state can save a milion acre-feet annually by increasing usage of current practices and technology.

The group said discrepancies in numbers between the new report and a previous one prove PI is making up numbers. In a letter to legislators, CFWC called out PI numbers that say a switch from flood (60-percent efficient) to drip (90 percent) can shrink water usage by 30 percent.

"(I)n last year’s report, the institute said flood was 70 percent efficient vs. 89 percent for drip," CFWC's letter said. " PRESTO! A 19(-percent) improvement is boosted to 30 (percent)."

CFWC threw out often-heard numbers that say usage of computer technology has allowed the state to nearly double its crop production in 40 years while expanding water usage by only 2 percent.