To cope with the continuing drought, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) will not provide water for agriculture beginning in March to at least 200 local water districts in California's Central Valley, a newspaper report said on Saturday.

Meanwhile, as part of the water-saving move, municipalities and industrial customers will receive half of their allotments, the Los Angeles Times said.

"This year is on the heels of two previous critically dry years, and this is the third year in a row," USBR spokeswoman Lynnette Wirth was quoted as saying by the paper.

She said the last time the bureau faced such a shortfall was in 1992.

Wirth said officials were hopeful that allocations could be increased if there is more precipitation.

Paul Wenger, vice president of the California Farm Bureau Federation, described the federal announcement as "very dire," and said that the Legislature needed to take immediate steps to help solve the crisis, such as facilitating faster transfers of water between farmers.

"If this continues for the next foreseeable future, it's going to be catastrophic for the Central Valley," he told the paper.

The water shortage was a blow to California's producers of almonds and other crops, the paper said.

Meanwhile, the California Department of Water Resources projected that it would be able to allocate only 15 percent of what its contractors -- including the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California -- have sought, according to the paper.

Matt Notley, a spokesman for the Department of Water Resources, was quoted as saying that most of the department's supply is used by cities and towns but there would be enough water to meet health and safety needs.

Still, Notley said, cities "should already have a plan in place " that may include mandatory rationing to deal with the shortage, and that Californians may be asked to reduce their water use by as much as 20 percent.

To cope with the situation, some farmers have already begun destroying thousands of acres of almond orchards, and plan on fallowing large areas of farmland, the paper said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 22, 2009)