Storms allow increase in State Water Project allocation

State Water Project Contractors will receive an additional 15 percent of requested supplies this year.

A series of storms in February delivered much needed rain and snow, allowing the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to increase the State Water Project (SWP) allocation forecast for 2025. The new allocation is 35 percent, up from 20 percent announced in January.

“California is experiencing a winter of extremes. We’ve seen predominately dry conditions broken up by very wet, short storm events. Those conditions mean we must move as much water when it’s available and as safely as possible,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth in a statement. “Ultimately it will require new infrastructure to move and store enough water for California as dry spells last longer and wet periods become shorter and flashier.”

Water managers took advantage of the storms, making the required flood control releases from Lake Oroville and still was able to add 300,000 acre-feet of water to the reservoir, brining it up to 84 percent of capacity. They also took advantage of increased flexibility in operating permits for the State Water Project to move approximately 16,000 acre-feet of additional water into San Luis Reservoir, which is now at 81 percent capacity. The pumping increase was made possible in part by the “storm flex” provisions in the State Water Project’s 2024 federal and state endangered species act permits, which allow for additional diversion of water supply when certain ecological conditions are met during storms.

Projects like the proposed Sites Reservoir and Delta Conveyance Project would have been hugely beneficial if they were in place this season, allowing California to capture more water for use during the dry summer months. For example, the Delta Conveyance Project could have captured more than 700,000 acre-feet of additional storage so far this winter, which is enough to support more than 7 million people.