Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Did Reclamation Do Right by Westlands With 55% Allocation?
GV-Wire-1
By gvwire
Published 6 years ago on
March 19, 2019

Share

There is good news from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for Westlands Water District growers.

The Bureau has increased this year’s water allocation to district farmers from the 35% announced last month to 55%.

“With the improved CVP storage conditions and the latest runoff forecasts, we are pleased to increase the amount of water allocated to many of our water service contractors.” — Mid-Pacific Regional Director Ernest Conan

But, according to the district, the news should have been better considering California’s snowpack and rainfall totals. Westlands noted that Lake Shasta is at 85 percent capacity and 111 percent of its historical average; San Luis Reservoir is at 99 percent capacity and 113 of its historical average.

“The increase is an improvement for the farmers and farmworkers in the Westlands Water District, but, given the healthy hydrological conditions throughout the state, today’s announcement is a disappointment,” the district said in a news release Friday.

“For years, we have been told that the farmers served by south-of-Delta ag service contractors received water allocation reductions due to water shortages. But this year, water is abundant, which is why today’s announcement is so frustrating.

“A 55 percent allocation, during a year with snowpack and reservoir levels well above average, further illustrates the extent to which California’s water supply system is broken and how important it is that we find long-term solutions to problems plaguing the water delivery system in California.”

After Seven Years, California is Drought Free

The Bureau’s announcement came Friday — one day after experts said that California was free of drought for the first time in more than seven years.

“The precipitation we’ve experienced since mid-February has provided a significant boost to the projected water supply for the Central Valley Project this year,” said Mid-Pacific Regional Director Ernest Conant in a statement released Friday. “With the improved CVP storage conditions and the latest runoff forecasts, we are pleased to increase the amount of water allocated to many of our water service contractors.”

The Bureau previously said that 322,000 acre-feet of Millerton Lake water would be used for the San Joaquin River Restoration Program, which seeks to restore a self-sustaining Chinook salmon fishery in the river. That is the amount released in what the Bureau calls a “normal-wet” water year.

Boosts for Three CVP Allocation Areas

The three updated allocation areas are:

— North of the Delta, in-Delta and American River contractors’ allocations, for both agricultural water service and municipal and industrial service contractors, increased to 100 percent.

— South-of-Delta agricultural water service contractors’ allocations increased to 55 percent of their contract total.

— South-of-Delta allocations for municipal and industrial contractors’ allocations increased to 80 percent of historic use.

Friant Division’s allocation remains unchanged with Class 1 contractors at 100 percent.

The Bureau stated that as the water year progresses, changes in hydrology and opportunities to deliver additional water would influence its future allocations.

Bureau water supply updates are posted here.

Photo of Jesse Hagan evacuating his apartment complex
Sycamore Court resident Jesse Hagan evacuates to higher ground in the apartment complex in lower Guerneville, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019. (Kent Porter/The Press Democrat via AP)

More on the Drought’s End

California is drought-free for the first time since Dec. 20, 2011, said the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, which jointly produces the monitor with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“The state had experienced some form of drought for 376 consecutive weeks,” the center tweeted.

The state came close to being drought-free in soggy 2017 when it was whittled down to less than 9 percent of the state and then-Gov. Jerry Brown lifted an emergency declaration intended to conserve water.

The change this year has been dramatic. On Jan. 1, more than 75 percent of California was in some level of drought and less than 8 percent was entirely free.

Storms since have been a boon to water supplies as well as skiers and snowboarders as the snowpack deepened in the Sierra Nevada and in other ranges, but they have also brought problems including river flooding that swamped much of the Sonoma County wine country town of Guerneville.

(Information from Associated Press was used in this report.)

DON'T MISS

What to Know About Pam Bondi, Trump’s New Pick for Attorney General

DON'T MISS

North Korean Leader Says Past Diplomacy Only Confirmed US Hostility

DON'T MISS

Democrats Strike Deal to Get More Biden Judges Confirmed Before Congress Adjourns

DON'T MISS

Newsom Gaslights on Potential Gas Price Hikes in Fresno Visit

DON'T MISS

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

DON'T MISS

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

DON'T MISS

Ohtani Makes History With 3rd MVP, Judge Claims 2nd AL Honor

DON'T MISS

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

DON'T MISS

Average Rate on a 30-Year Mortgage in the US Rises to Highest Level Since July

DON'T MISS

Cutting in Line? American Airlines’ New Boarding Tech Might Stop You at Now Over 100 Airports

UP NEXT

Fresno Council Lowers Speed Limits on Friant and Audubon

UP NEXT

Fresno Doctors Will Pay $2.4 Million to Settle Kickback Allegations, DOJ Says

UP NEXT

These Fresno Schools Are Unsafe and in Bad Condition. And No One Is Complaining

UP NEXT

What Will Happen to CNBC and MSNBC When They No Longer Have a Corporate Connection to NBC News?

UP NEXT

Bulldogs Stack Double-Doubles Like Burgers on a Plate to Beat Prairie View

UP NEXT

Major Storm Drops Record Rain, Downs Trees in Northern California After Devastation Further North

UP NEXT

Fresno County Men Arrested in Armed Robbery Near Sanger High, Sanger Academy

UP NEXT

Newsom Heads to Fresno, a County That Voted for Trump

UP NEXT

Conservative Professors and Students Are Beating CA Community Colleges in Court

UP NEXT

Suspect Arrested After Oakhurst Crime Spree Leaves K9 Injured

Newsom Gaslights on Potential Gas Price Hikes in Fresno Visit

6 hours ago

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

6 hours ago

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

6 hours ago

Ohtani Makes History With 3rd MVP, Judge Claims 2nd AL Honor

6 hours ago

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

7 hours ago

Average Rate on a 30-Year Mortgage in the US Rises to Highest Level Since July

7 hours ago

Cutting in Line? American Airlines’ New Boarding Tech Might Stop You at Now Over 100 Airports

7 hours ago

MLB Will Test Robot Umpires at 13 Spring Training Ballparks Hosting 19 Teams

8 hours ago

Death Toll in Gaza From Israel-Hamas War Passes 44,000, Palestinian Officials Say

8 hours ago

Jussie Smollett’s Conviction in 2019 Attack on Himself Is Overturned

8 hours ago

What to Know About Pam Bondi, Trump’s New Pick for Attorney General

NEW YORK — Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general, was chosen Thursday by Donald Trump to serve as U.S. attorney general hours after...

4 hours ago

4 hours ago

What to Know About Pam Bondi, Trump’s New Pick for Attorney General

5 hours ago

North Korean Leader Says Past Diplomacy Only Confirmed US Hostility

5 hours ago

Democrats Strike Deal to Get More Biden Judges Confirmed Before Congress Adjourns

6 hours ago

Newsom Gaslights on Potential Gas Price Hikes in Fresno Visit

President Joe Biden with Mary Barra, the chief executive of General Motors, at the Detroit Auto Show, Sept. 14, 2022. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to erase the Biden administration’s tailpipe rules designed to get carmakers to produce electric vehicles, but most U.S. automakers want to keep them. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
6 hours ago

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

6 hours ago

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

6 hours ago

Ohtani Makes History With 3rd MVP, Judge Claims 2nd AL Honor

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at First Horizon Coliseum, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Greensboro, NC. (AP/Alex Brandon)
7 hours ago

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend