Today, the Bureau of Reclamation announced major steps to improve California water supply.  The initial allocation to be provided to California farmers on the west side of the Central Valley south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay-Delta is initially set at 35% and more than twice what the initial allocation was in 2024, a year with similar hydrology.  In addition, the Trump administration is investing more than $315.5 million to create new water storage at the future Sites Reservoir and at the existing San Luis Reservoir.   Reclamation, as directed through President Trump’s Executive Order 14181, has worked to maximize water supply, particularly for south-of-Delta contracts.  Reclamation continues its dedicated efforts to deliver more water and produce more hydropower as a commitment to California farmers and communities.  Water supply allocations are based on an estimate of water available for delivery and reflect current reservoir storage, precipitation, and snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, as well as contractor-rescheduled water from the last water year.  “Recent atmospheric rivers and the good condition of most of our reservoirs going into this water year have benefited our water supply outlook; however, the San Joaquin Basin has experienced critically dry conditions this winter,” said California-Great Basin Regional Director Karl Stock. “Initial allocations reflect this significant variation across the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys.”   Based on current hydrology and forecasting, Reclamation is announcing the following initial Central Valley Project water supply allocations:

 

North-of-Delta Contractors

Sacramento River

• Irrigation water service and repayment contractors north-of-Delta are allocated 100% of their contract total. 
• Municipal and industrial water service and repayment contractors north-of-Delta are allocated 100% of their contract total. 
• Sacramento River Settlement Contractors’ water supply is based upon settlement of claimed senior water rights. The 2025 water year is determined as non-critical, as defined in their Settlement Contracts, which allows for 100% of their contract water supply.

 

American River

• M&I water service and repayment contractors north-of-Delta who are serviced by Folsom Reservoir on the American River are allocated 100% of their contract total. 

 

In-Delta Contractors

• M&I water service and repayment contractors who are serviced directly from the Delta are allocated 100% of their contract total. 

 

South-of-Delta Contractors

• Irrigation water service and repayment contractors south-of-Delta are allocated 35% of their contract total.
• M&I water service and repayment contractors south-of-Delta are allocated 75% of their historical use, or public health and safety needs, whichever is greater.
• San Joaquin River Settlement Contractors and San Joaquin Exchange Contractors’ water supply is based upon settlement/exchange of claimed senior water rights. The 2025 water year is determined as non-critical, as defined in their contracts, which allows for 100% of their contract supply.
• In addition to this allocation, CVP contractors south-of-Delta are expected to reschedule approximately 180,000 acre-feet of unused allocated water from 2024 for use in 2025. 

 

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. The Friant Division water supply allocation is 45% of Class 1 and 0% of Class 2. 

 

Wildlife Refuges

• The 2025 water year is determined as non-critical, as defined in their contracts, which allows for 100% of contract supply for wildlife refuges (Level 2), both north- and south-of-Delta.