Thursday Top of the Scroll: California reservoir managers could sharply limit water to farms and cities this year
Even after all the rain and snow in California this month, state and federal water managers announced Wednesday that they’re planning to limit deliveries from the state’s biggest reservoirs this year because seasonal precipitation has lagged. Their plans, however, don’t fully account for the recent storms. The State Water Project, with Lake Oroville as its centerpiece, expects to ship 15% of the water that was requested by the mostly urban water agencies it supplies, including many in the Bay Area. The estimate is up from 10% in December but still low. The federally run Central Valley Project, which counts Shasta Lake among the many reservoirs it operates primarily for agriculture, expects to send 15% of the water requested by most irrigation agencies in the San Joaquin Valley and 75% to most in the Sacramento Valley.
Related articles:
- The Associated Press: California’s rainy season is here. What does it mean for water supply?
- Los Angeles Times: ‘Snow drought’ eases as storms bring California near-average water supplies
- Record Searchlight: Lake Shasta ‘too high’ for February so Shasta Dam to release more water
- SJV Sun: Reclamation sets Valley water supplies at 15 percent
- U.S. Bureau of Reclamation: Reclamation announces initial 2024 water supply allocations for Central Valley Project contractors
- CA Department of Water Resources: DWR Announces Increase to Anticipated State Water Project Allocation for 2024
