BLOG: Despite A Wet Year, Some California Wildlife Areas Miss Out On Water

On April 11, the United States Bureau of Reclamation announced that all of its California Central Valley Project water customers will receive 100 percent of their contract supplies this year, for the first time since 2006. This is a remarkable turnaround after five lean drought years, during which some of its agricultural customers received no water at all. But the bureau didn’t mention one group of customers missing out on this liquid largesse: wildlife refuges. There are 19 state and federal wildlife refuges spanning California’s Central Valley, from Willows to Bakersfield.