Turlock Irrigation District board doubles water allotment over 2015
Farmers in the Turlock Irrigation District will get up to 36 inches of water this year, which is double what was allotted in 2015 thanks to the storms of recent months.
The district board voted 5-0 Tuesday to set the allotment, which is still short of the 48 inches that is typical in years with ample rain and snow. Don Pedro Reservoir, the main storage for TID and the Modesto Irrigation District, still needs to recover from four years of drought.
Board member Charles Fernandes urged growers to use the increased Tuolumne River allotment so they can reduce the groundwater pumping that has helped them through the dry times.
“We’re all aware of what’s going on with the water table, and even though we have some rain right now, that’s still not the answer,” he said.
The board set the irrigation season for April 7 to Oct. 19, but it allowed the staff to adjust the dates according to the weather or crop conditions. April showers could reduce demand from feed-crop farmers, for example, while a rainless October could prompt nut growers to do extra watering.
The snowpack in the Tuolumne watershed is 97 percent of average, said Tou Her, the district’s assistant general manager for water resources. That will be the main source as the weather warms.
Overall precipitation so far is 128 percent of average, thanks to an outsized amount of rain at lower elevations, much of it caught in Don Pedro. That was up from 121 percent a week ago because of a series of storms.
Don Pedro is projected to peak at about 1.3 million acre-feet of water this year. That is twice the level at the end of the last irrigation season but well short of the capacity of 2.03 million.
The 36-inch allotment this year would leave enough in the reservoir to provide at least 20 inches next year, Her said. That would rise with further storms.
The MID staff has proposed a 30-inch allotment this year.
John Holland: 209-578-2385
This story was originally published March 15, 2016 at 2:02 PM with the headline "Turlock Irrigation District board doubles water allotment over 2015."