- California will be able to provide all of its water requests for the first time in years after a series of winter storms filled its drying reservoirs.
- A California management project will be able to supply water to a total of 27 million customers and 750,000 acres of farmland in an accomplishment that last happened in 2006.
- In 2022, almost all of California, America’s most populous state, was in drought, including at extreme and exceptional levels.
California will provide 100% of the water requested by cities and farms for the first time in years thanks to winter storms that filled reservoirs and runoff from a record snowpack, regulators announced Thursday.
The State Water Project will provide full allocations to 29 water agencies supplying about 27 million customers and 750,000 acres of farmland, the Department of Water Resources said.
As late as March, the agency was only expecting to provide 75% of requested water supplies.
HALF OF CA NO LONGER IN DROUGHT AFTER TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF RAIN, SNOW HIT THE STATE LAST YEAR
The last time the state agency fully met water requests was in 2006.
Meanwhile, the federal Bureau of Reclamation announced it was increasing water allocations for the Central Valley Project to 100% for the first time since 2017.
The move was cheered by contractors who supply the federal water to the state’s agricultural heartland. It will provide much-needed water to communities, farms and families in the San Joaquin Valley, said a statement from Jose Gutierrez, interim general manager of Westlands Water District.
“Following two years of 0% allocations, this water supply will assist growers in Westlands with putting the land to work to grow the food that feeds the world,” he said.
Both the state and federal governments control networks of reservoirs and canals that supply water across California.
Three years of drought had pinched off supplies drastically in the nation’s most populous state. Late last year, nearly all of California was in drought,…
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