Today, the Bureau of Reclamation announced an increase in Central Valley Project 2023 water supply allocations. After below average precipitation in February, Reclamation announced a conservative initial water supply allocation for the CVP on Feb. 22. Additional atmospheric river systems have since boosted hydrological conditions and storage volumes, allowing for a more robust water supply allocation.  Since making initial allocations last month, Shasta Reservoir, the cornerstone of the Central Valley Project, has increased from 59% to 81%, and San Luis Reservoir, the largest reservoir south-of-Delta, from 64% to 97%. Record-breaking snowpack conditions currently exist in the Southern Sierra coupled with significant snowpack in the Central Sierra and Northern Sierra/Trinity.  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 80% from 35% of their contract total.
• Municipal and industrial water service and repayment contractors north-of-Delta are increased to 100% from 75% of their historic use.

 

South-of-Delta Contractors

• Irrigation water service and repayment contractors south-of-Delta are increased to 80% from 35% of their contract total.
• M&I water service and repayment contractors south-of-Delta are increased to 100% from 75% of their 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 remains at 100% and Class 2 was previously increased from 20% to 70% on March 7.