On Friday, May 22nd, the Calif. Department of Water Resources announced that the State Water Project (SWP) now expects to deliver 20 percent of requested supplies in 2020 as a result of above-average precipitation in May.
An initial allocation of 10 percent was announced in December and increased to 15 percent in January. The announcement will likely be the final allocation update of 2020.
Following below-average precipitation most of the winter, May storms delivered 181 percent of average in the Northern Sierra for this time of year.
This year’s snowpack is the 11th driest on record since 1950, while precipitation stands as the 7th driest on record since 1977. Thirty percent of California’s annual water supply comes from snowpack.
A 20 percent allocation amounts to 843,696 acre-feet of water. The SWP provides water to 29 SWP contractors who supply water to more than 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland.
