April 23, 2018 - SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Following late season storms, the Bureau of Reclamation has issued updated allocations for Central Valley Project contractors for the 2018 contract year.
“Thanks to late March and April precipitation and the positive results of the California Department of Water Resources April snow survey, Reclamation is pleased to announce this increased allocation for CVP water contractors,” said Mid-Pacific Regional Director David Murillo. “Even with the recent gains in water supply, the year as a whole has still been relatively dry. We will continue to monitor our ability to manage temperature in the Sacramento River and meet other regulatory requirements throughout the system, and may need to adjust our plans as the year evolves. We urge our contractors to continue to exercise conservative use of the resource.”
For agricultural water service contractors and municipal and industrial service contractors north of the Delta, in-Delta and on the American River, Reclamation has increased the allocation to 100 percent. This includes contractors throughout the Trinity, Shasta, Sacramento River, American River and Delta divisions of the CVP.
The allocation for south of Delta agricultural water service contractors has been increased to 40 percent of their contract total. Municipal and industrial contractors south of Delta are allocated the greater of 75 percent of their historic use or public health and safety needs.
In order to promote effective use of supplies in San Luis Reservoir this year and efficiency for next year’s operations, Reclamation is planning to limit the overall amount of water in San Luis Reservoir that is rescheduled at the end of the contract year into the 2019 contract year to 150,000 acre-feet. Reclamation intends to work with south of Delta contractors and others this year on those plans, and to continue to refine end-of-year rescheduling concepts and implementation.
On April 10, Friant Division Class 1 water allocation was increased from 60 percent to 100 percent, and Class 2 water is also currently being made available to assist in managing reservoir conditions and river releases. Reclamation is able to increase this supply based on improved forecast hydrologic conditions due to recent rain and snow events, commercial power operations in the Upper San Joaquin River Basin, and current storage in Millerton Lake. Class 1 water is generally considered to be the contracted supply that can be managed through storage regulation and scheduled for delivery at the contractor’s convenience, whereas Class 2 is made available under wetter conditions and is not necessarily schedulable at the contractor’s convenience. Conditions will continue to be monitored and allocations will be adjusted and updated as appropriate."
As the water year progresses, changes in hydrology and opportunities to deliver additional water will influence future allocations. Water supply updates are posted at http://www.usbr.gov/mp/cvp-water/index.html.
Source: BOR
