State Water Project Plans for Dry Year, Sets Initial Allocation at 5% of Requests

Supplies from the State Water Project for the water year that began Oct. 1 will initially be a “conservative” 5% of requests in case of a dry year, the California Department of Water Resources announced Monday.

Last year the initial allocation was 10%, but grew to 40% by the end of the year thanks to normal rain and snow.

The project, which is one of the largest water systems in the world, collects water from rivers in Northern California and redistributes it to cities and farms from the Bay Area through the Central Valley to Southern California via a network of aqueducts and pumping stations. It serves 27 million people.

“Based on long-range forecasts and the possibility of a La Niña year, the State Water Project is planning for a dry 2025 punctuated by extreme storms like we’ve seen in late November,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth.

“We need to prepare for any scenario, and this early in the season we need to take a conservative approach to managing our water supply. Our wettest months of the season are still to come,” she said.

The agency noted that prior to recent storms across northern California, the start of the water year had been dry and warm, and soils are parched.