VERIFIED WATER BENEFITS
Status: Third-party verified. Credits available for purchase.

Project Description
Davis Ranches has dedicated an approximately 15-acre rice field (Field 24) to a pilot project with Verified Water to generate Verified Water Credits (VWCs). By excluding Field 24 from rice production in 2024, the net water diversion from the Sacramento River was reduced by more than 45 acre-feet from historical baseline use. Davis Ranches will report this on their Statement of Diversion and Use (SODU) for 2024 as water beneficially used as a conservation volume and water use reduction. To create additional soil health, environmental, and agronomic co-benefits, vetch cover crop was planted on Field 24 and was only rain irrigated. As a nitrogen-fixing plant species, this action helped improve soil fertility and provides agronomic benefits lowering the need for fertilizer and herbicide inputs.Â
As a pilot project, Davis Ranches is evaluating the benefits of generating water credits to enable a long-term rice rotation program. Verified outcomes of this sustainability practice include quantifiable volumetric water benefits, water quality benefits, reduced use of herbicides and fertilizer, creation of wildlife habitat for migratory birds, biological nitrogen fixation in soil.

Project Details
VERIFIED WATER ACTION
Reduced irrigation and diversion of water from the Sacramento River, and transitioned lands to soil enhancing cover crop.
VERIFIED OUTCOME
Dedicated water right to instream flow, reduced pesticide and fertilizer use, improved soil fertility, and created agronomic benefits.
WATERSHED
Sacramento River
VERIFIED WATER CREDITS
14,600 (1 credit = 1,000 gallons of freshwater)
Available for purchase
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