By the Numbers: Current Water Conditions

Geoff Vanden Heuvel

Director of Regulatory and Economic Affairs

December was wet. So far, January is dry. The charts below show where we are.

The Tulare Lake graph is relevant for the Southern Central Valley local supply. The San Joaquin River graph shows the Friant and North Valley local supplies. The Northern Sierra graph shows the current condition of the State Water Project and Central Valley Project (CVP), which take their water out of the Delta.

The December storms seemed to have put less water into the Lake Shasta watershed, which is a concern. Lake Shasta is very low, and in addition to providing water supply, it also has to supply cold water for salmon. Until Lake Shasta reaches more than 3 million acre-feet in storage, there is likely not enough cold water at the bottom to meet the temperature needs of the salmon and also meet the water supply demands of the CVP contractors.

Right now, the State Water Project is still at a zero allocation for 2022. The federal CVP water year runs from March 1 to February 28. So, it is still a few weeks away from an initial announcement of an allocation for the 2022 irrigation season.