Powerful Calif. Water District Backs Tunnel Plan As a giant harvesting machine uprooted and sucked in hundreds of tomato plants a row at a time, Dan Errotabere contemplated massive strips of bare land on his farm. "Everything we have in our operation is under duress," he said, looking at a stretch of fallow acres once covered in garlic, onions and other crops. Errotabere and hundreds of others who run massive farms in California's Central Valley have left tens of thousands of acres barren this year after seeing their water supplies severely curtailed. He and the other members of the nation's largest federal irrigation district say the restrictions are hindering their growth and jeopardizing their future. As a result, the powerful Westlands Water District, which comprises 700 large-scale operations spanning 600,000 acres in western Fresno and Kings counties, has become one of the loudest proponents and top financiers of a twin tunnel project that would provide a new avenue for shipping water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta south to farms and cities. Westlands has fought for years to get more resources from the delta for the farms it represents, making its presence known in the state's water wars with numerous lawsuits against environmental regulations that have cut into their supplies. District famers see the intervention as critical for their survival, particularly the latest push for the tunnel system. While other agricultural and urban water districts in California have also faced reductions, Westlands' members see their situation as more precarious, because their district has junior water rights and faces the sharpest cuts when supplies are tight. "Dry years in farming, you learn to live with it," Errotabere said. But it's hard to invest into operations, equipment and labor if you don't have a reliable water supply. Without the tunnels, farmers say, more of the fruits and vegetables in grocery stores across the nation will come from foreign countries where food safety regulations aren't as strict as U.S. requirements. Critics, including environmental groups that oppose the project, say the tunnels might not restore Westlands' dwindling water supplies, yet could further harm the fragile delta ecosystem and cost taxpayers billions of dollars. Some say parts of the district should be allowed to permanently die off because Westlands farmers have relied for far too long on cheap federal water to overplant thousands of acres of water-intensive trees on salty land with substandard groundwater. "These guys are at the end of the line, and they're always trying to put themselves at the front at the expense of other water users and the fish," said Tom Stokley, a water policy analyst with the nonprofit California Water Impact Network. Once dominated by cotton growers, today Westlands - which includes Harris Farms, one of California's biggest operations, and Tanimura & Antle, the nation's top lettuce grower - grows close to 60 different crops, from fruits and vegetables to nuts, with a total value of $1.6 billion. Westlands members have seen water deliveries cut by 40, 60 and even 90 percent in recent years as the delta ecosystem's deterioration triggered Endangered Species Act regulations to protect fish and limit delta pumping. Other water districts saw mostly smaller reductions.