The Bureau of Reclamation has announced initial water supply allocations for the Central Valley Project (CVP) for the 2024 water year. Many CVP contractors are starting out with an initial allocation that is more than double that of last year’s initial announcement. The 2023 water year left most California reservoirs in a good place, after a record-setting winter. While it has been a slow start to the 2024 water year, recent storms have brought the Sierra Nevada snowpack up to nearly average. The initial water supply allocations are based on an estimate of water available for delivery to CVP water users and reflect current reservoir storage, precipitation, and snowpack in the Sierra Nevada.
Irrigation water service and repayment contractors north-of-Delta have been allocated 75 percent of their contract total. The initial allocation in 2023 was 35 percent. Municipal and industrial (M&I) water service and repayment contractors north-of-Delta are allocated 100 percent of their historical use. M&I contractors north-of-Delta who are serviced by Folsom Reservoir on the American River have been allocated 100 percent of their contract total. That figure was 75 percent at this time last year. M&I contractors who are serviced directly from the Delta are allocated 100 percent of their contract total.
Allocations are lower than last year in some areas further south. While eastside water service contractors will receive 100 percent of their contract total, the same as last year’s initial allocation, irrigation water service and repayment contractors south-of-Delta have been allocated 15 percent of their contract total. Last year the initial allocation was 35 percent. Additionally, CVP contractors south-of-Delta have been approved to reschedule approximately 184,000 acre-feet of unused allocated water from 2023 for use in 2024. The Friant Division water supply allocation has been set at 60 percent of Class 1 and zero percent of Class 2. Last year those figures were 100 percent and 20 percent, respectively.
Brian German
Ag News Director / AgNet West