The largest single users of the Colorado River – farmers in the Imperial Valley – have reached another agreement with the government under which, with help from San Diego, they will limit their use of the overused and threatened river over the next two years.

The Imperial Irrigation District board announced this week that it would pay farmers to forgo some crops over the next two years to keep about 700,000 acre-feet of water (an acre-foot is equivalent to the annual water use of two California households) in the river’s largest reservoir, Lake Mead.

San Diego is currently in talks with Imperial Valley to help farmers meet that goal by reselling some of the water they buy from the valley. The San Diego County Water Authority currently has more water than it can use after recent years of rain ended several years of drought. It is in a fiscal crisis, its budget will be cut by $2 million, and water rates for its 22 water districts will increase by 14 percent.

San Diego will likely repeat the three-way water swap it made last year with Imperial Valley and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to save money, buying cheaper California water from Metropolitan instead of more expensive water from the Colorado River.

Water Authority General Manager Dan Denham told Voice of San Diego that the deal resulted in $20 million in savings last year, which equates to a reduction in water rates for San Diego residents.

In return, the federal government would pay the Imperial Valley a high price for its water, about $800 per acre-foot, officials said. By comparison, the county currently pays about $20 per acre-foot for that water. But the $800-per-person cost would be higher than what the government agreed to pay the Imperial Valley last year in exchange for the water savings.

Tina Shields, the county’s water department director, said Thursday that the price is still being determined, as is how much water farmers will actually be able to save by 2026, since the agreement is not scheduled to close until 2024. But to achieve the water savings, the county is targeting the cultivation of alfalfa, Bermuda grass and smallgrass (crops used as livestock feed and among the most water-intensive crops).

A few years ago, at the height of the drought, the federal government announced that the seven U.S. states that share the Colorado River and Mexico would have to reduce their water requirements by 4 million acre-feet, about the same amount as California’s consumption.