Yesterday, the Department of Water Resources announced a slight increase in the State Water Project allocation from 15% to 20%. Here are the reactions from water agencies, listed in alphabetical order:
From the Kern County Water Agency:
Today, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced that the State Water Project (SWP) water allocation will increase from 15 to 20 percent of contracted amounts due to recent northern California storms and related precipitation. The SWP provides water to more than 25 million residents and more than 750,000 acres of agricultural land throughout California.
“During a fourth year of drought, any increase in water supplies is welcome. We appreciate the efforts of the California Department of Water Resources to act quickly to increase the SWP allocation,” said Kern County Water Agency (Agency) Board of Directors President Ted Page.
The Agency holds contracts with the State for approximately one million acre-feet (af) of water from the SWP. The 20 percent allocation represents a slight increase in the delivery of water from the SWP, yielding an additional 50,000 af for a total of 200,000 af for Kern County. While the snowpack measurements indicate the drought has receded a little this year, federal rules intended to protect Delta smelt and salmon continue to limit the capacity for both the SWP and the Central Valley Project. Therefore, water will continue to be pumped out of groundwater banking projects to try to meet local farming needs.
“Kern County’s groundwater reserves have been severely diminished due to dry conditions and regulatory restrictions imposed on water flowing through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to areas throughout California. While not enough for all the needs of Kern County growers, a 20 percent allocation could mean less likelihood of running out of water this year. We are hopeful the allocations will continue to improve during the remainder of this water year,” said Page.
From the Metropolitan Water District:
Jeffrey Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, issues the following statement on the announcement today by the California Department of Water Resources to increase this year’s State Water Project allocation from 15 percent to 20 percent:
“While welcome news, today’s modest increase in State Water Project allocation does
not substantially change the water supply picture for Southern California in 2015. Metropolitan will continue to carefully monitor water supply conditions in Northern California and the Colorado River watershed, the sources of our two imported supplies.”“Although Metropolitan continues to maintain water in reserve, we must carefully manage these supplies should the drought stretch beyond this year. Metropolitan has updated its allocation plan should conditions require the district to limit supplies to our 26 member public agencies. Allocation decisions traditionally happen no later than April and go into effect July 1.”
From the State Water Contractors:
“Public water agencies are now projected to receive 20 percent of contracted water supplies from the State Water Project (SWP) in 2015, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced today. Winter storms allowed DWR to increase the previous 15 percent allocation.
“We welcome this much-needed, modest increase in water supplies. The severe multi-year drought has created a water supply deficit that will not be easy to close, and we need to capture what we can before winter is over,” said Terry Erlewine, general manager of the State Water Contractors. “As devastating impacts continue sweeping across our drought-stricken state, we need every drop we can get.”
The modest increase in water allocations will provide greater flexibility for water agencies. However, 2015 is proving to be another critically dry year – 93 percent of the state remains in severe drought. The Sierra snowpack – the source of water for 26 million Californians – is only 19 percent of average. Without major storms, DWR warns that Californians will not be able to rely on the snowpack to replenish reservoirs.
Lack of snow coupled with increased environmental regulations has made water supply management a mounting challenge. Even when water supplies are abundant, water agencies are often required to halt or dramatically reduce water deliveries to comply with regulations, resulting in a significant loss of water supplies. For example, when storms came through in December 2014, restrictions prohibited the state from capturing 200,000 acre-feet of water.
“We cannot afford to continue to lose water when we need it most. We know we need a better system in place that will allow us to capture more supplies when they are abundant,” said Erlewine. “Now is the time to implement a solution to this statewide problem before the next drought strikes, and we find ourselves grappling with this very issue yet again.”
The fact that water managers cannot capture water when it’s abundant underscores the need to modernize the state’s water delivery system. The Bay Delta Conservation Plan is being crafted to ensure that Californians have a safe, adequate water supply, while also protecting the environment.
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