Cities and farmers who rely on the State Water Project will receive the most water they’ve received since 2012. The California Department of Water Resources announced today that it plans to meet 45 percent of requests for deliveries.
It’s a major increase from December, when the state planned to fulfill only 10 percent of requests. Paul Wenger with the California Farm Bureau says it is welcome news. But he and other farmers are hoping the federal Central Valley Project will be able to meet requests.
Wenger: “I think if you get up to 65-70 percent of contracted amounts, farmers always have a way to make it work on their farms, by rotational cropping and different things. But for the CVP to have zero and the State Water Project to have 45 percent, we’re a long way to meeting the needs of folks.”
The department says rain and snow have increased water in the state’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Shasta and Lake Oroville.
The 29 agencies that receive water from the State Water Project serve about 25 million Californians and irrigate just under a million acres of farmland.
