Most Delta farmers have what are called riparian water rights: rights to use water that is adjacent to their property as long as they use it for reasonable purposes. By contrast, many users of export water receive it through infrastructure that has been built at public expense and for which they may not have paid the full cost; in that case, the water they use may reasonably be considered to be subsidized by taxpayers.
Where Delta farmers may be considered to benefit from some level of subsidy is in the maintenance of levees. Delta landowners provide financial support for the local reclamation districts that maintain the levees they rely upon, but the State, through the Delta Levees Subventions Program, in some cases provides reclamation districts with matching funds for levee maintenance. Voters, too, have approved investments in levees to protect both people and infrastructure in the Delta. As a result of these investments over the last 30 years, the majority of Delta levees meet strict engineering standards, and the frequency of levee failures has decreased dramatically.
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