Feds increase water allocations from Central Valley Project

Several mid to late February storms improved hydrological conditions particularly for Northern California, causing the Bureau of Reclamation to announce an increase in Central Valley Project 2024 water supply allocations.

“Thanks to the improved hydrology, we are pleased to announce a bump in water supply allocations for the Central Valley Project,” said California-Great Basin Regional Director Karl Stock. “While the series of storms in Northern California improved the water supply outlook, a number of factors, particularly anticipated regulatory constraints throughout the spring, continue to limit the water supply allocation for south-of-Delta agriculture.”

In recognition of recent efforts to develop a south-of-Delta drought plan, Reclamation is reserving approximately 83,000 acre-feet of water currently in San Luis Reservoir that will contribute to a drought reserve pool and is not considered as a volume of water available for this year’s water supply allocations. Additionally, approximately 185,000 acre-feet of rescheduled water from the 2023 water year, also stored in San Luis Reservoir, is not included in the 2024 water supply allocation.

Based on current hydrology and forecasting, Reclamation is announcing the following increases to CVP water supply allocations:

North-of-Delta Contractors

• Irrigation water service and repayment contractors north-of-Delta are increased to 100% from 75% of their contract total.

South-of-Delta Contractors

• Irrigation water service and repayment contractors south-of-Delta, including Cross Valley Contractors, are increased to 35% from 15% of their contract total.
• M&I water service and repayment contractors south-of-Delta are increased to 75% of historical use or public health and safety, whichever is greater, up from 65% of historical use.

Friant Division Contractors

• Friant Division contractors’ water supply is delivered from Millerton Reservoir on the upper San Joaquin River and categorized by Class 1 and Class 2. The first 800,000 acre-feet of available water supply is considered Class 1; Class 2 is considered the next amount of available water supply up to 1.4 million acre-feet. Class 1 is increased to 65% from 60%; Class 2 remains at 0%.

All other allocation amounts announced on Feb. 21 remain at 100%.