State to pay farmers $5.16 million not to irrigate

ATLANTA - Farmers in southwest Georgia will be paid $5.16 million not to irrigate this year under the Flint River Drought Protection Act. <br> <br> The state Department of Natural Resources said Friday that freeing 40,352 acres from irrigation will save millions of gallons of water daily. <br> <br> ``The irrigation stoppage will assure an additional 200 cubic feet of water per second in the Flint River at Bainbridge during the worst drought periods,&#39;&#39; said Harold Reheis, director of the DNR&#39;s Environmental Protection Division. <br> <br> The state agreed to pay an average of nearly $128 per acre to farmers who sign an agreement not to irrigate qualifying farmlands. The maximum bid submitted by farmers that was accepted is $145 per acre. <br> <br> Farmers who turned in higher bids can proceed with their regular spring planting routines. <br> <br> This is the second year of the Flint River Drought Protection Act, which was implemented to compensate farmers in the basin who voluntarily stop watering crops with surface water during a severe drought year. <br> <br> Reheis declared a drought March 1, after studies of groundwater levels, stream flow, winter precipitation and three-month precipitation outlooks. <br> <br> Only farmers who have state permits to irrigate crops in the basin were eligible to submit bids. Farmers who use streams that flow year round as their water source also had to prove that the acreage submitted was irrigated in the last three years and would be irrigated again this year. <br> <br> Farmers whose bids were accepted are being sent additional paperwork to return before receiving payment. The Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority will distribute the funds within 15 days of receiving that paperwork.