Aided by unseasonable rain and snow in an "awesome April," the California Department of Water Resources (DRW) this week gave its anticipated water deliveries a great boost over early April when only 50 percent of allocations seemed possible. DWR announced today that most State Water Project Contractors would receive 90 percent of their requested deliveries.
Contractors will receive 3.71 million acre-feet of water to deliver to their urban and agricultural customers. More water also will be available to benefit endangered species of fish, riparian habitat, and Delta water quality.
After poor rain and snow levels through most of the winter, it appeared that California was moving into a third consecutive below-normal water year. DWR initially estimated in December that it would only be able to deliver 20 percent (825,375 acre-feet) of Contractors' requests. The allocation was increased to 45 percent on January 16; 50 percent on March 28, and 70 percent on April 24, after the onset of the April wet pattern that this week brought the allocation to 90 percent, or 3.71 million acre-feet.
The DWR allocation notification can be found at www.swpao.water.ca.gov/new.html
Source: California Department of Water Resources