A planned-for reduction in the amount of water Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is releasing from Lake Pillsbury caught Potter Valley farmers and ranchers off guard earlier this month during a key point in the summer growing and ranching season. PG&E says stakeholders should have been expecting the dip in water pressure, which occurred on Tuesday, Aug. 5. … As the Potter Valley agricultural community panicked over keeping cattle and crops sated, rumors erupted on social media that PG&E had begun cutting off the water supply from Scott Dam in advance of the structure being torn down as part of the decommissioning of PG&E’s Potter Valley Project, which includes a shuttered hydroelectric power plant. 

Other agricultural water news:

• Monterey County Weekly (Seaside, Calif.): Regulatory costs squeeze Salinas lettuce growers
• Santa Maria Times (Calif.): Opinion: Sacramento should pass bill that benefits Kings County workers, farmers, and a shared future
• Agri-Pulse: SGMA reshaping California land values