Amador County – Heavy snowfall for the season means the state Department of Water Resources will likely meet 70 percent or more of its customer demands.

A snowpack survey at the beginning of the month showed water content high in the mountains, and the Water Resources Department estimated it will be able to deliver 70 percent of requested State Water Project water this year. The estimate likely will be adjusted upward as hydrologists make adjustments for snowpack and runoff readings.

In 2010, the State Water Project delivered 50 percent of the requested 4.17 million acre-feet of water, up from a record-low initial projection of 5 percent due to lingering effects of the 2007-2009 drought. Deliveries were 60 percent of requests in 2007, 35 percent in 2008, and 40 percent in 2009.

The Department said the last 100 percent allocation was in 2006, and a full allocation is “difficult to achieve even in wet years due to pumping restrictions to protect threatened and endangered fish.”

The SWP delivers water to more than 25 million Californians and nearly one million acres of irrigated farmland. Statewide snowpack readings from electronic sensors are available on the Internet, and historic readings from snowpack sensors are also posted on the SWP’s website. Electronic reservoir level readings may be found online as well.

The Department of Water Resources operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs.

California’s reservoirs are fed both by rain and snowpack runoff. A majority of the state’s major reservoirs were above normal storage levels as of April 1, the date which typically is seen as showing the maximum of snowpack levels for winter, before the thaw starts.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.