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State and federal water managers last week announced significant increases to water allocations across California thanks to early February storms and healthy reservoir levels.
The California Department of Water Resources increased its estimate of deliveries from 20% of requested water supplies in January to 35% on Feb. 25.
“California is experiencing a winter of extremes. We’ve seen predominately dry conditions broken up by very wet, short storm events. Those conditions mean we must move as much water when it’s available and as safely as possible,” DWR director Karla Nemeth said.
DWR operates the State Water Project, which provides water to 29 public agencies that serve 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland across the state – including the Zone 7 Water Agency in the Tri-Valley.
Also on Feb. 25, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced that water delivery agencies for cities and farms north of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, and within the Delta itself, will receive 100% of their requested supplies from the federal water storage and delivery system.
Meanwhile, most farms south of the Delta will receive 35% of their contract amounts, while urban and industrial water users to the south will receive 75% from the federal system.
The Bureau of Reclamation operates the Central Valley Project, which delivers irrigation water to 3 million acres of farmland and drinking water to more than 6 million people in the state.
The rosy water delivery announcements come at a time when all the state’s major reservoirs report water levels that are either close to, at or above historical averages for this time of year.
Also, the California Department of Water Resources is reporting that average snowpack levels in the Sierra Nevada are about 87% of normal for this date.
— Story by Kiley Russell, Bay City News Service
