Coalinga, California, officials spend $1.138 million to keep city from running out of water

The city of Coalinga is one of California’s agricultural hotspots, boasting the famed Harris Ranch as well as a major pistachio grower and other nut farms that depend on lots and lots of water. Relentless drought conditions in the state and across the Southwest have long been on the minds of those reliant on a dwindling resource. Conditions in Coalinga are bleak enough to push the city to the brink, forcing officials to pay more than $1.1 million for water from the Patterson Irrigation District more than 100 miles north.

Finalized last Wednesday, the deal allows for 600 acre-feet of water to reach a bare-minimum threshold of 2,700 acre-feet out of the 10,000 acre-feet of water Coalinga is allocated. Officials paid around $1,900 per acre-foot of water—much, much higher than the typical water price of $130 the city normally pays. Coalinga City Council Member Adam Adkisson told the Fresno Bee that Patterson’s rate was the best they could find. “Happy that we were able to find it at that price because it could have been a lot worse,” Adkisson said.