California water regulator boosts 2024 allocations amid optimistic outlook

The California Department of Water Resources on Wednesday announced an increase in its projected statewide water allocations for 2024 — following a series of storms that deluged the Golden State over the past two months. 

Forecasts anticipated the agency would be able to fulfill 15 percent of supplies requested from the State Water Project, up from an initial 10 percent allocation predicted in December.

While winter weather has been drenching much of the state since the beginning of the year, the agency noted Wednesday's decision does not account for any of the early February storms.

“We will continue to assess our State Water Project allocation forecast as more storms materialize in February and March,” Karla Nemeth, director of the Department of Water Resources, said in a statement.

The State Water Project is a storage and delivery system that spans 705 miles — or about two-thirds the length of California — and provides water to 27 million residents and 750,000 acres of farmland.

While 29 public agencies and local water districts have long-term delivery contracts with the project, the amount of water available each year varies based on rainfall, snowpack, runoff and reservoir capacity, according to the Department of Water Resources.

The projected 15 percent of fulfillment, which is subject to reevaluation this spring, would translate to about 200,000 acre-feet of additional water, the agency explained.

For reference, a typical U.S. household consumes about 1 acre-foot of water annually.

Although the state has enjoyed copious amounts of precipitation over the past two months, the historic rainfall has mostly fallen over Southern California, rather than the northern parts of the state that house the State Water Project headwaters, the Department of Water Resources noted.

The agency stressed, however, that the project has been able to take advantage of the storms, by boosting storage at Lake Oroville in Northern California and the San Luis Reservoir in Central California's San Joaquin Valley.

Lake Oroville, the State Water Project's largest reservoir, stands at 134 percent of its average for the current date, circumstances that the Department of Water Resources attributed to last winter's historic snowfall.

Nonetheless, because recent storm systems have been warmer and have therefore brought more rain than snow, this year's statewide snowpack levels are not as promising.

California's snowpack currently stands at 86 percent of the average for the current date and 69 percent of the average for April 1 — the date considered by the agency to be peak snowpack for the season.

“This season is an important reminder of our extreme conditions and shift to bigger, flashier storms," Nemeth said. 

She therefore emphasized "the need to continue increasing the state’s ability to capture and store stormwater when it comes as rain instead of snow.”