In pictures: Drought costs California economy $1.7 billion, and counting

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  Water master Jeff Thengvall leaves after releasing irrigation water to provide water for the rice fields in Richvale, California. California’s 19th-century water laws give about 4,000 companies, farms and others virtually unlimited water for free while the state is mired in a three-year drought that has forced water cutbacks to cities and the nation’s agricultural centre. Jae C Hong / AP Photo

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  One of the worst droughts in California's history has devastated more than a half-million acres. Jae C Hong / AP Photo

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  Irrigation water runs along the dried-up ditch between the rice farms to provide water for the rice fields in Richvale. California’s drought-ravaged reservoirs are running so low that state water deliveries to some metropolitan areas have all but stopped, and cutbacks are forcing growers to fallow fields. Jae C Hong / AP Photo

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  Farmworkers install a drip irrigation system in a peach orchard in Yuba City, California. Many farmers in the area are switching to drip irrigation system in efforts to conserve water. Jae C Hong / AP Photo

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  Dust rises around a walnut tree as a worker mows weeds in Gridley, California. Nearly 4,000 California companies, farms and others are allowed to use free water with little oversight while others in the state have to contend with the drought. Jae C Hong/ AP Photo

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  A row of rice fields are flooded with water while those across a narrow road remain idle and dry due to a lack of legal rights to water in Yuba City, California. Jae C Hong / AP Photo

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  Above, the Moccasin reservoir at the Moccasin Powerhouse in Moccasin, California, where water is tapped for electricity before being carried by tunnels to San Francisco Bay Area taps. Jae C Hong / AP Photo

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  Above, rice fields flooded with water in Yuba City, California. Nearly 4,000 California companies, farms and others are allowed to use free water with little oversight, in contrast with the rest of the bone-dry state because of a severe drought. Jae C Hong / AP Photo

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  Nearly 4,000 California companies, farms and others are allowed to use free water with little oversight while others in the state have to contend with the drought. Jae C Hong/ AP Photo

Researchers have estimated that the ongoing drought in California’s Central Valley has resulted into an economic loss of $1.7 billion, with water level at seven of the state’s 12 main reservoirs at or below 60 per cent of historical average.