About $27 million in federal grants will help boost water conservation and storage efforts throughout California as the state grinds through its third year of drought. The release of the funds announced by Interior Sec. Ken Salazar Thursday include more than $15 million for projects in the San Joaquin Valley, where irrigation shortages have forced farmers to layoff workers and leave hundreds of thousands of acres unplanted reports the Associated Press.

The grant funding will cover a portion of the costs of projects designed by tribes and irrigation districts to meet critical water needs, lower dependence on federal water supplies and store water underground.

Water managers in the Sacramento area also will get $5 million to install water meters.