DWR Increases Water Delivery Estimate

SACRAMENTO – With the Sierra snowpack’s water content above average, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) today increased its State Water Project (SWP) allocation to 20 percent.

“As the water picture for this year becomes clearer, we can increase our deliveries to farms and communities throughout the state,” said DWR Director Mark Cowin. “But the aftermath of three years of drought and regulatory restrictions on Delta pumping to protect fish species will keep this year’s allocation far below normal. This underscores, once again, the need to implement long-term solutions to improve water supply reliability.”

Manual and electronic snow survey readings today indicate that statewide, snowpack water content is 106 percent of normal for the date. This time last year, the reading was 81 of normal.

Electronic sensors show northern Sierra snow water equivalents at 126 percent of normal for the date, central Sierra at 92 percent, and southern Sierra at 105 percent.

Snowpack water content normally is at its peak the first of April, although DWR makes a final manual survey the first of May, and electronic readings report conditions daily. DWR may be able to increase the State Water Project allocation to above 20 percent as hydrologists refine runoff projections from today’s snowpack readings and conditions continue to develop.

Lake Oroville, the State Water Project’s principal reservoir, is recovering slowly after three consecutive dry years. Its storage level today is at only 47 percent of capacity, 60 percent of normal for the date. In addition, fishery agency restrictions on Delta pumping continue to reduce the amount of water that can be delivered to contractors and customers in the Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley, Central Coast and Southern California. The final State Water Project allocation, to be set later this spring, will partially depend on how the pumping restrictions to protect fish including Delta smelt, salmon and longfin smelt are applied.

In 2009, the State Water Project delivered 40 percent of customer requests. The average of Project deliveries over the past 10 years is 68 percent of the amount requested by the 29 public agencies with long-term contracts to buy SWP water. The 29 contractors deliver water to more than 25 million Californians and 750,000 acres of irrigated farmland.

DWR, in partnership with the Association of California Water Agencies, will continue to run the Save Our Water program. The program, which was created by Gov. Schwarzenegger’s 2009 drought declaration, aims to educate Californians about easy ways to conserve water indoors and outdoors. Vists the website at www.saveourh2o.org