South of Delta Valley farmers to receive zero allocation from Feds, again

Yesterday, the Bureau of Reclamation announced their initial 2022 water supply allocation for Central Valley Project contractors and most irrigation districts in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys can expect to receive zero deliveries from the project’s vast network of reservoirs and canals.

CVP allocations are based on an estimate of water available for delivery and reflect current reservoir storages, precipitation, and snowpack in the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada. Reclamation said dry weather in January and February wiped out the gains recorded during the rainy and snowy December.

“Losing over a million acre-feet of projected inflow in two weeks’ time is concerning,” said Regional Director Conant. “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.”

Currently, CVP reservoir storage is below the historic average for this time of year and runoff forecasts predict that overall storage will be limited if substantial spring precipitation does not materialize.

Reclamation’s initial CVP water supply allocations are:

North-of-Delta Contractors

• Irrigation water service and repayment contractors north-of-Delta are allocated 0% of their contract total.
• Municipal and industrial water service and repayment contractors north-of-Delta will be provided water for public health and safety needs consistent with the CVP M&I Water Shortage Policy.
• Sacramento River Settlement Contractors’ water supply is based upon settlement of claimed senior water rights and the 2022 water year is currently designated as a critical year, as defined in their Settlement Contracts.
• M&I water service and repayment contractors north-of-Delta who are serviced by Folsom Reservoir on the American River are allocated 25% of their historical use.

In-Delta Contractors

• M&I water service and repayment contractors who are serviced directly from the Delta are allocated 25% of their historical use.

South-of-Delta Contractors

• Irrigation water service and repayment contractors south-of-Delta are allocated 0% of their contract total.
• M&I water service and repayment contractors south-of-Delta are allocated 25% of their historical use.
• For San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors and San Joaquin Settlement Contractors, the 2022 water year is currently designated as a critical year, as defined in their contracts.

Friant Division Contractors

• Friant Division contractors’ water supply is delivered from Millerton Reservoir on the upper San Joaquin River via the Madera and Friant-Kern canals. 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. Given the current hydrologic conditions, the Friant Division water supply allocation is 15% of Class 1 and 0% of Class 2.