California DWR Increases 2006 State Water Project Allocation to 70 Percent
The state Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced on Jan. 18 it is increasing its allocation of 2006 State Water Project water for long-term contractors from 65 percent to 70 percent of requests.
"It has been wet, but the recent storms have been warm. We would like to see more of the precipitation as snow, but the rain has given us a very healthy start to the water supply year," commented Dan Flory, head of the Department's State Water Project Analysis Office.
He credited a very wet December and early January with giving DWR the opportunity to provide SWP contractors 70 percent of their requests.
Flory added, "a big factor in the increase to 70 percent allocation is record precipitation in the Northern Sierra during December, which totaled nearly 300 percent of average."
A 70 percent percent allocation amounts to 2,888,782 acre-feet, distributed among the 29 long-term SWP Contractors who serve more than 23 million Californians and about 750,000 acres of irrigated farmland.
For additional information, go to http://www.water.ca.gov.
This article originally appeared in the 01/01/2006 issue of Environmental Protection.