Farmers will now be receiving one-fifth of the water that they’re paying for from the State Water Project.

Curtis Creel with the Kern County Water Agency says the Department of Water Resources opted to increase the allocation from 15 percent to 20 percent after heavier-than-expected storms in northern California.

“What they concluded was that they expected a little bit more water into the system that would allow them to increase the allocation for this year,” he said.

Creel says that’s enough water to irrigate another 15,000 acres.

– Anthony Pollreisz