Water conditions edge toward worse ever

California’s drought conditions are starting to compare to the worst ever recorded.

The five largest reservoirs controlled by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Central Valley Project — Shasta, San Luis, Folsom, Trinity and New Melones — are at 36 percent of capacity. The CVP provides water for about 3 million acres of agricultural fields in the state.

In comparison, during the climax of the often-cited worst drought the state has endured in 1977, the reservoirs sat at 31 percent of capacity at the same time of the year.

New Melones Reservoir, sitting at 49 percent of capacity, is the fullest of the five reservoirs.

The reservoir is the hardest to replenish, so it’s not drained as quickly, said Margaret Gidding, a public affairs specialist with the Bureau of Reclamation.

Currently, New Melones’ inflow is at 47 percent of normal, Gidding said.

The State Water Project’s main reservoir, Lake Oroville, is below 1977 levels. Project contractors deliver water to more than 25 million Californians and more than 750,000 acres of farmland.

SWP’s initial water allocations were estimated at 15 percent of contractors’ requested amount this year. This is the second lowest initial estimation in the history of the SWP.

The causes of the water shortage are numerous.

After two dry years, the Sierra Nevada snowpack, which provides a majority of Californians’ water, is at 60 percent of normal water content despite recent recent storms.

Also, an increasing population, aging infrastructure and court-ordered restrictions in water pumped through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta because of the endangered, finger-sized Delta smelt have compounded the state’s situation beyond what was dealt with in 1977, experts say.

Next week, both the CVP and SWP plan to update water allocations for the year.

“We are planning for the worst and praying for the best,” said Ron Milligan, manager of CVP operations.

Water districts in the foothills have been somewhat isolated from many of the drought’s effects compared to their Central Valley neighbors.

The nation’s most fertile county, Fresno County, has been often noted as being hit the hardest — especially the county’s western regions, which rely on a majority of their water from the CVP.    

Farmers in this region, who rely on water from San Luis Reservoir in western Merced County, have been warned they will receive no water when allocations are announced next week by the CVP, said Liz Hudson, public relations coordinator for the Fresno County Farm Bureau.

The area — on top of producing an assortment of nuts, vegetable and fruits — produces about 95 percent of the nation’s head lettuce, Hudson said.

Hudson, who also runs a farm of her own in Fresno County, said that of the about 600,000 acres of agriculture land in the county’s western region, farmers will be lucky to plant a third of it because of the lack of water.

San Luis Reservoir, which sits at 32 percent of capacity, is a good example of the drought’s perfect storm — it not only has been hit by the arid conditions but by the pumping restrictions on the Delta, Hudson said.   

Tom Birmingham, the general manager of the Westland Water District, which manages western Fresno County’s water, said he agrees with Hudson that CVP’s allocation will be zero because of the Delta’s pumping restrictions and the arid conditions.

Mendota City, a small city in western Fresno County of about 10,000 people, is being devastated by the drought conditions.

About 44 percent of the jobs in the city are agriculture related.

Because fields are being fallowed, the city’s unemployment has ballooned to more than 30 percent, Mendota Mayor Robert Silva said.

“We’re an agriculture community,” Silva said. “From truck drivers, to store owners to farmers ... if we don’t get water deliveries, it’ll be a big mess.”

California’s agricultural fields use about 80 percent of the water consumed by the state to produce more than half the nation’s produce.

A recent study done by Richard Howitt, of the University of California, Davis, Department of Agriculture, predicted that 60,000 jobs would be lost in the Central Valley because of the water shortage this year.

Already, the state’s agriculture industry has lost more than $309 million because of the water situation. In Fresno County alone, 42,000 acres went fallow because of a lack of water. Statewide, 106,493 acres were fallowed.

More than $800 million from the state’s agriculture revenue could be lost this year because of the water shortage, according to the study.

“It’s very dire — very scary,” Hudson said.