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Jody MurrayCiting the winter’s “robust” storms and resulting above-average snowpack, California’s Department of Water Resources announced Thursday it will slightly raise the allocation for the State Water Project.
The increase from 70% to 75% is the final allocation level for the calendar year, and marks a dramatic increase since the water year’s initial allocation of 10% in November 2018. The water year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.
The lion’s share of the water collected by the SWP in Northern California is used in Southern California and the Bay Area, but about 30% is used by Central Valley farmers.
Related Story: Feds Raise Water Allocations for Farmers. Westlands Isn’t Impressed.
The 75% allocation for the SWP matched a slight increase announced June 14 by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which governs water deliveries to westside farmers in the Central Valley Project South-of-Delta region. The reclamation bureau had raised the allocation from 35% to 55% in March, then to 65% in April and 70% in May.Westlands Wants to Buy 120,000 Acre-Feet of Water
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