[env-trinity] Westlands Water Supply this year

[Byron Leydecker]

From:
http://blogs.edf.org/waterfront/2009/06/08/water-supply-improvements-in-the-
san-joaquin-valley/

Water supply improvements in the San Joaquin Valley

June 8, 2009 | Posted by Spreck Rosekrans in Water Supply

Spreck Rosekrans is an Economic Analyst at EDF.

Anybody reading newspapers or watching television news over the last two
months has heard frightening stories of water shortages that threaten the
viability of agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley. But information compiled
by the California Department of Water Resources reveals that in 2009 water
supply in most parts of the valley will be in excess of 80% of average.

Central Valley Project deliveries to Westlands Water District, for example,
were forecast to be zero as recently as March. Westlands now projects they
expect to use 86% of average annual supplies this year. Their total supply
is a combination of deliveries from the Delta, water banked last year,
groundwater pumping and purchases.

The data, compiled last month by the Department of Water Resources and based
on a series of interviews with staff from each of the districts, was
attached to a letter from DWR Director Lester Snow to U.S. Senator Dianne
Feinstein on May 15 . As the table notes, the information is subject to
change.

The information paints a very different picture for agriculture this year
than we have seen reported this spring. The water shortages are much lower
than previously reported. This year's supplies do, of course, rely on levels
of groundwater pumping that would not be possible every year. Still, one can
only conclude that the water supply situation is not as dire as previously
reported and that San Joaquin Valley farms will still be able to grow food
for our kitchen tables this year. 

 

Byron Leydecker, JcT, Chair

Friends of Trinity River

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 

415 519 4810 cell

bwl3 at comcast.net

bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org

www.fotr.org 

 

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