Even those with high-priority access to water are at risk of having their spigots turned off. As holders of some of the oldest water rights in California, many farmers and ranchers here in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta have never had their spigots turned off, a fate many of their counterparts in the parched state have endured.

But under an order from the State Water Resources Control Board, the local Byron Bethany Irrigation District last month shut down irrigation to more than 160 farmers and ranchers in its 30,000-acre area.

While California remains gripped by drought, the scale of lost agricultural jobs and lowered revenue is emerging. And the numbers don't look good. Vast tracts of farmland — mostly in the Central Valley — have been fallowed, which means idled to accumulate moisture. An estimated 564,000 acres will be idled this year, according to an economic update on the drought from researchers at the University of California at Davis.

A Northern California community already is faced with losing its water supply after the drought-stricken state took the drastic step of suspending water-access rights established as far back as 1903.

The State Water Resources Control Board announced the move June 12, suspending access to water for 114 so-called senior rights-holders, all in hardest-hit Northern California.