Last Friday, the Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau) announced water allocations for the Central Valley Project (CVP), the latest the annual announcement has been made.  March hydrology information was needed in order to fully inform the allocations. 

The Bureau-operated CVP will deliver 100 percent of contracted water north of the Delta.  However, water deliveries to the south still paint a grim picture of the realities of another year of drought.  The CVP will deliver only 5 percent of contracted water to farms south of the Delta this year even though precipitation and snowpack levels are very close to average thus far this year.  The Bureau again cited the concern for endangered species as well as the need to prepare for drought conditions this summer as reasons for limiting water supplies south of the Delta.  Cities are slated to receive 55 percent of their contracted amount, up from 25 percent last year.