Some irrigators on West Side of Stanislaus County can expect only 5% of federal water
West Side farmers using the federal Central Valley Project can expect 5% to 75% of their contracted supply this year.
Two straight dry winters brought that announcement Tuesday from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. It involves water pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to as far south as Kern County.
Four irrigation districts totaling about 225,000 acres from Crows Landing to Mendota will get 75% allocations because of water rights predating the CVP’s construction. They agreed in 1939 to stop drawing directly from the San Joaquin River in exchange for future guarantees.
These water users are the Central California Irrigation District, the San Luis Canal Co., the Firebaugh Canal Water District and the Columbia Canal Co. They banded together into the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors Water Authority.
The 5% allotment includes the Del Puerto Water District, which irrigates about 45,000 acres along Interstate 5 from Vernalis to Santa Nella.
Del Puerto has reduced its reliance on the federal system by using highly treated water from sewage treatment plants in Modesto and Turlock. And it proposes a reservoir west of Patterson for better long-term control of its storage.
The CVP water is stored as far north as Shasta Reservoir and as far south as New Melones and San Luis reservoirs. The allocations have been constrained in recent decades both by dry conditions and protections for delta fish.
Supplies are below average as well for agencies on the east side of the valley, including the Modesto, Turlock and Oakdale irrigation districts.
They might do better than the West Side, though, thanks to more control over flows and storage. Each district will decide on the 2021 supply as irrigation season approaches in March.
The Bureau of Reclamation noted that the snowpack is 54% of average in the Sierra Nevada, its main source.
“Although we had a couple of precipitation-packed storms in January and early February, we are still well below normal for precipitation and snowfall this year,” Regional Director Ernest Conant said in a news release. “We will monitor the hydrology as the water year progresses and continue to look for opportunities for operational flexibility.”
Reservoirs and groundwater were doing well after the very wet 2017 and the above-average 2019. Two straight below-average years have drawn down some of the storage.
The Westlands Water District, west of Fresno, is by far the largest user of CVP water. General Manager Tom Birmingham urged efforts to improve the long-term supply in a news release.
“A 5% allocation, although better than zero, will result in a human and economic disaster for families on the West side of the Valley and could result in major strains for the nation’s food supply,” he said.
This story was originally published February 26, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
