With California entering its third year of drought, the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) announced initial 2022 water supply allocations for Central Valley Project (CVP) contractors would be minimal to zero based on reservoir storage.
The BOR announced a zero-water allocation for water districts north and south of the California Delta, affecting farmers across the region. Municipal and industrial users who receive CVP water are allocated 25 percent of their historical water use.
Currently, reservoir levels are at historic lows for this time of year, and without significant rainfall, they will continue to decrease.
“We began the 2022 water year with low CVP reservoir storage and some weather whiplash, starting with a record day of Sacramento rainfall in October and snow-packed December storms to a very dry January and February, which are on pace to be the driest on record,” said BOR Regional Director Ernest Conant in a statement.
Conant said the rains early in the season fell on the American River basin and not in the upper Sacramento River basin, which supplies the Shasta Reservoir. According to BOR, the California Department of Water Resources’ forecast update from Feb. 1-15 shows a total decrease in projected annual inflow to the Shasta, Oroville, Folsom, and New Melones reservoirs of 1.2 million acre-feet (an acre-foot is 325,851 gallons).
Conant said water reservoir levels are 27 percent of capacity and 52 percent of the 15-year average.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us this year; strengthened collaboration and coordination among agency partners, water and power users, and stakeholders will be instrumental,” Conant said.
Last February, BOR started with a 5 percent allocation for agriculture users and 55 percent for municipal users. However, a dry spring coupled with a lower-than-average snowpack resulted in little to no runoff, and BOR reduced the allocation to the same as the agency is starting with this year.
“We’re getting a certain amount of criticism from the agricultural community for these low allocations, but we have to be prudent and cautious with these very dry conditions,” Conant said. “If it doesn’t rain in March, it’s possible it could get worse.”
Conant said certain areas in the Central Valley would receive some water and some areas would receive none, so farmers will have to rely on groundwater if it’s available.
In response, California Farm Bureau (CFB) President Jamie Johansson said the announcement underscores why California needs to act now to build water infrastructure supported by voters.
“We are disappointed, but not surprised, by the Bureau of Reclamation’s Central Valley Project water allocation announcement,” Johansson said. “This demonstrates the overdue need for new water storage. In 2014, California voters were promised $2.7 billion as a down payment on building new water storage after they overwhelmingly approved Proposition 1, a $7.1 billion water bond initiative. Construction has yet to begin.”
According to the California Water Commission, water storage capacity would increase by 2.77 million acre-feet with the $2.7 billion in bond funds from Proposition 1. The Public Policy Institute of California, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank, stated in a June 2021 blog post just over $150 million of the $2.7 billion had been spent.
“We can no longer afford to neglect our aging water infrastructure, which was once the envy of the world. If we are serious about water resilience and addressing climate change, we must invest in water storage and delivery infrastructure to capture precipitation in wet periods to sustain us amid our new norm—longer, harsher periods of drought,” Johansson said.
Westlands Water District, one of the largest suppliers in the San Joaquin Valley of water to agriculture users, said in a statement it is disappointed with the announcement but understands that hydrologic conditions “prevent Reclamation from making water available under the District’s contract.” Westlands said this is the fourth time the district has received a zero allocation in the past decade, and in 2021, a total of 200,000 acres were fallowed due to drought conditions.
Westlands also stressed the need to invest in water infrastructure, water storage and improved conveyance facilities.
In May 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced a proposal for a $5.1 billion package for “drought infrastructure, preparedness and response to ensure a more climate-resilient system.” According to the governor’s press release, the proposal aligns with Newsom’s July 2020 Water Resilience Portfolio, a plan to equip the state to deal with drought and rising temperatures while addressing the declining fish population and overreliance on groundwater. —Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
