\n
TIMELINE<\/strong>March 31 \u2014<\/strong> National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) approves the Bureau of Reclamation\u2019s temperature plan for Shasta Lake. Enough cold water must be kept in the lake to release at the end of October for winter-run Chinook salmon. The plan would have allowed daily releases of 9,000 CFS in June, 10,500 CFS in July and 10,000 CFS in August.<\/p>\nApril 1 \u2014<\/strong>\u00a0Based on NMFS\u2019 approval of the Bureau\u2019s temp plan, the Bureau announces water allocations of 5 percent of contracted amounts for west side ag districts, 55 percent for municipal clients and 100 percent each for wildlife refuges, below delta exchange contractors, above delta Sacramento Valley diverters and Sacramento Valley Settlement Contractors.<\/p>\nMid-April \u2014<\/strong> Shasta fills to near capacity of 4.3 MAF, Folsom fills 850,000 AF.<\/p>\nApril through May \u2014<\/strong> Bureau only runs one pump out of six available in its Jones Pumping Plant near Tracy. One pump moves 800-1,000 CFS of water per day.<\/p>\nMay 2 \u2014<\/strong> NMFS rejects the original temp plan as early lake temperatures come in warmer than predicted. NMFS states it will reduce Shasta releases to 8,000 CFS all summer. The Bureau and NMFS enter negotiations for a new plan.<\/p>\nMonth of June \u2014<\/strong> Because there is no temp plan in place, NMFS keeps Shasta releases to 7,400 CFS. Bureau quickly begins falling behind in filling San Luis Reservoir, which is used to meet its south-of-delta obligations.<\/p>\nJune through July \u2014<\/strong> A \u201cking tide\u201d creates salinity issues in the delta, forcing the Bureau and state Department of Water Resources (DWR) to push 8,000 to 12,000 CFS per day to the ocean through releases from Folsom and Oroville. Typically, the agencies would have to move 7,500 CFS through the delta for salinity.<\/p>\nMid-June \u2014<\/strong> Bureau has no water in San Luis Reservoir and is forced to borrow 270,000 AF from federal contractors who had stored water there from previous years or who had purchased water from third parties and stored it in San Luis. That water is used to meet the Bureau\u2019s April allocations but only lasts until mid July.<\/p>\nJune 28 \u2014<\/strong> NMFS agrees to a second temp plan that allows for releases of 9,000 CFS in June (but June has passed), 10,500 CFS in July and 10,000 CFS in August.<\/p>\nJuly 6 \u2014<\/strong> Santa Clara Valley Water District is forced to tap its emergency supplies at Anderson Reservoir to blend with water out of San Luis because the San Luis water had become fetid as lake levels dropped dramatically. Santa Clara has used 12,000 AF of its emergency supplies.<\/p>\nJuly 15 \u2014<\/strong> The Bureau is again out of water in San Luis. It asks for help from all contractors including those on the State Water Project. It inks a deal to borrow 12,000 AF from Arvin-Edison Water Storage District, a Friant contractor,* and exchanges 45,000 AF of federal water from Millerton with the Kern County Water Agency, a state contractor. The Bureau also borrows 38,000 from DWR. But it needs approval from the State Water Resources Control Board to make those trades.<\/p>\nJuly 21 \u2014<\/strong> The Bureau doesn\u2019t get approval and sends shutoff notices to 26 water districts alerting them pumping would cease in three days.<\/p>\nJuly 22 \u2014<\/strong> Shutoff is narrowly avoided after an all-night session between Bureau and Water Board employees results in the needed approvals.<\/p>\nJuly 22 \u2014<\/strong> The Bureau approves an increase in allocations to contractors on the Friant side of the CVP, which takes water from Millerton, igniting a firestorm of criticism from other federal contractors who were still in danger of being shut off.<\/p>\nJuly 22 \u2014<\/strong> Westland\u2019s Water District agrees to take 40,000 AF of water it had purchased and stored in San Luis as an emergency stash, rather than what was promised by the Bureau in April. It also gives 5,000 AF from that emergency stash to San Luis Water District.<\/p>\nJuly 25 \u2014<\/strong> Bureau borrows another 10,000 AF from Fresno Irrigation District and the City of Fresno and sends it down the San Joaquin River from Millerton for west side ag contractors.<\/p>\nAug 1 \u2014<\/strong> Bureau borrows another 5,000 AF from a Friant district to send down the San Joaquin from Millerton for west side contractors. Total borrowed, not including Westlands water, is 380,000 AF.<\/p>\nAug. 1 \u2014<\/strong> At 205,000 AF, San Luis Reservoir is lower even than it was in 1976-77, one of the driest years on record.<\/p>\nAug. 10 \u2014<\/strong> NMFS agrees to keep Shasta releases 10,500 CFS daily through August rather than dropping down to 10,000 CFS as planned.<\/p>\nFuture \u2014<\/strong> There are no certain plans for how the Bureau will repay the 380,000 AF it borrowed.<\/p>\nWest side federal contractors believe the debt should be paid out of Millerton.<\/p>\n
Friant division contractors (which include several districts in Kern County) believe the water should be repaid through increased pumping out of the Jones facility this fall.<\/p>\n
Either way, all sides are hoping this debt doesn\u2019t reach into the 2017 water year.<\/p>\n
*The CVP south of the delta is split into two halves. One serves districts in the Bay Area and along the west side of the valley, the other serves districts in the Friant Division, which includes Arvin-Edison, Shafter-Wasco Irrigation District and Kern Tulare Water District in Kern County.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The backstory of a water scare you never knew about LINK to original story: \u00a0 \u00a0http:\/\/www.bakersfield.com\/columnists\/lois-henry-the-backstory-of-a-water-scare-you-never\/article_e2413d84-4ee7-5bce-9e23-bec87dfcc712.html By lhenry@bakersfield.com Aug 13, 2016 Millions of Californians nearly had their water shut off late last month because the federal government ran out of water \u2014 sort of. Yes, you read that right. The federal Bureau of Reclamation ran … Continue reading LOIS HENRY: A water scare you never heard about<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":216,"href":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions\/216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loishenry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}