Water Education Foundation
This is just one post in the State Water Project (DWR) Category
Click here to view all posts

This just in … State Water Project delivery forecast remains at 15% despite CVP increase

Posted by: Maven on March 16, 2010 at 12:06 pm

dwr-logobig_thumb.gifFrom the Department of Water Resources:

“Sacramento – Although the Central Valley Project today increased its water delivery allocation, the Department of Water Resources is unable at this time to increase allocations.

“It is clear that both the state and federal water projects face great challenges in delivering the amount of water that our farms, businesses and residents need this year,” said DWR Director Mark Cowin. “We will continue to work aggressively in looking for opportunities to improve water supplies to the State Water Project (SWP) contractors this year, and for long-term solutions to improve water supply reliability for California.”

Poor hydrologic conditions in the Feather River watershed, which feeds into Lake Oroville, is preventing DWR from raising the current 15 percent allocation for 2010 State Water Project deliveries at this time.
The CVP has substantially more water in storage than the SWP, largely due to this winter’s precipitation patterns. Lake Shasta, north of Redding, the CVP’s largest reservoir, is at 104 percent of average for this time of year, and 81 percent of capacity. Lake Oroville in Butte County, the SWP’s principal storage reservoir, is only at 57 percent of normal for this time of year, and 43 percent of capacity.

Depending on how hydrology improves, DWR will increase the delivery allocation accordingly. The initial 2010 allocation, announced in December 2009, was 5 percent of contractor requests. DWR raised the initial allocation to 15 percent in February.

The Department of Water Resources operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs.”

March 16, 2010 · Filed Under State Water Project (DWR)

Comments

Leave a Reply