Full Allocations Hard To Reach Despite Storms

Even as winter and early-spring storms have filled reservoirs to the brim and piled snow on Sierra Nevada mountaintops, state and federal officials say they’re limited in how much water they can send south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. California’s lead water agency on March 20 set anticipated deliveries to contractors at 70 percent of requested supplies. The Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) update came a few days after the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced that agricultural operations north of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta will receive their full supplies while south-of-Delta ag contractors will receive 55 percent.