Fw: water

Subject: Fw: water

This is far more than you could learn than if you went to the state water
resource site.
The significance of southern sierra and San Joaquin valley water/snow pack
reports is this is what 'waters' the food crops and then sends it on to our
friends in S. California.
Also, please note this is far to early to predict a state water profile for
this year.
----- Original Message -----
From: olcharlie
To: larrylewis
Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2008 9:45 AM
Subject: water


There's good news, bad news about Valley weather
Recent winter storms have doubled the snowpack in the Sierra, easing drought
anxieties. But experts say, 'We've still got a long way to go.'
By Mark Grossi / The Fresno Bee
01/12/08 22:34:58


Three blizzards in the Sierra Nevada have put the San Joaquin Valley's water
worries on ice -- for now.
The storm siege over the first weekend of the year doubled the snowpack.
East of Fresno, Blackcap Basin got 80 inches of snow at 10,500 feet, for
example.
But the snowpack must double again by April 1 to fill reservoirs and fully
supply farms, cities, industries and hydroelectric plants this summer.
Snowmelt provides more than half of California's water supply.
In the San Joaquin Valley -- one of the nation's most lucrative farming
belts -- irrigation officials religiously track reservoir storage and
snowfall totals on a state Web site. The big boost in precipitation has not
lulled them.
"We've still got a long way to go," said Steve Haugen, watermaster of the
Kings River Water Association, which tracks water conditions for farms and
cities in a 1 million-acre swath of Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties.
The National Weather Service is not forecasting storms in Central California
over the next several days.
A familiar dry pattern with night and morning fog is emerging.
In Fresno, the rainfall total is 4.22 inches for the season, well beyond the
1.73 inches at this time last year. The city's rainfall total is 105% of
average for this point in the season.
Out in farm country, it's the time of year when growers get crop loans and
plan their spring and summer operations.
Irrigation forecasts are at the core of their plans.
"Overall, the precipitation has been good this month," said Steve Chedester,
executive director of the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors Authority,
representing owners of 240,000 farmland acres on the Valley's west side.
"But if we get a few more big storms, we'll be a lot better."
Chedester and many other west siders watch reservoir and snowfall totals for
the northern Sierra. About 1.2 million acres of the west side are irrigated
with water from more than 100 miles away.
The water is pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. To protect
dwindling fish species in the delta, federal authorities since the 1990s
have restricted water exports to some west side farmland.
A recent court decision probably will cause additional cutbacks for those
farms. The 600,000-acre Westlands Water District in Fresno and Kings
counties is affected by those cutbacks.
Those farmers can expect only 30% to 55% of their allotments this year, said
Dan Nelson, executive director of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water
Authority, which represents Westlands and others in the area.
That means many will be shopping for more supplies from districts that have
extra river water. If the storms keep coming, there's a better chance to
find water at affordable prices.
"Yes, it's good to see the precipitation," Nelson said. "More precipitation
gets you more options for water transfers.
"We have been limited by regulatory cutbacks for more than 15 years, and it
appears there could be even more cutbacks this year. So we need other
options."
On the east side of the Valley, many farmers rely on water from the San
Joaquin River at Millerton Lake, which now holds about 68% of its average
storage for January.
Last January, Millerton was nearly 85% of average. One reason is that there
was more water left over from the previous wet season.
The story is the same for many Sierra reservoirs. In Northern California,
Shasta had 110% of average storage last January. This year, it is 66%.
The reservoirs are lower now because the statewide snowpack was only 45% of
average last April, said Maurice Roos, chief hydrologist for the California
Department of Water Resources in Sacramento. There wasn't much left at the
end of the summer.
"The precipitation is doing much better than last year," Roos said. "But
reservoirs statewide are still about 20% lower."
The extra room in reservoirs will allow damtenders to capture a big snow
runoff this spring, thus preventing possible flooding or release of excess
water to the Pacific Ocean.
The reporter can be reached at mgrossi@fresnobee.com or(559) 441-6316.