The new Pacific Institute report Sustaining California Agriculture in an Uncertain Future is an interesting read. Check it out here.

The SF Chronicle covers the story here.

From the article:

Comparison of Water Quantities

For an average water year, the water conservation and efficiency practices identified in this Pacific Institute report have the potential to save 5.6 million acre-feet of water, equivalent to:

• more than 16 times the amount of water that can be stored in the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir;
• triple the water that can be stored in the far larger San Luis Reservoir;
• 4.5 times the water than could be stored in the proposed Temperance Flats Reservoir;
• 19 times the water restored to the environment in the recent Delta smelt ruling;
• more than double the 2.3 million acre-feet in urban efficiency improvements identified in the Pacific Institute’s earlier evaluation of the potential for residential, commercial, and industrial efficiency improvements (Waste Not, Want Not).

This savings represents around 17% of all of the water used by agriculture in California.