The Biden administration will pay farmers in the Western U.S. to save water as the region contends with historic drought. The Department of Agriculture announced Thursday that it will invest up to $400 million in paying farmers in 11 states to reduce their water consumption while continuing to produce commodities. The department said the action is expected to conserve up to 50,000 acre-feet of water — or about 16 billion gallons. … The water districts preliminarily selected to be part of the program include parts of Idaho, Utah, Oregon, California, Washington state, New Mexico, Wyoming, Texas, Montana, Colorado and Nevada.

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