Jacob Kollen, snow surveys and water supply forecasting unit water resources engineer of the California Department of Water Resources, conducts the fourth media snow survey of the 2026 season in Phillips Station Wednesday.
The California Department of Water Resources announced Friday that allocations from the State Water Project are increasing for the coming summer months.
DWR officials said the new allocation amounts are 45% of requested supplies, up from the previous allocation of 30% announced in January.
The State Water Project, one of two backbone water storage and delivery systems in California, provides supplies to 29 public water agencies serving 27 million people and 750,000 acres of farmland.
The allocations are set using information about current hydrological conditions, existing reservoir storage levels and remaining snowpack.
Currently all of the state’s major reservoirs are at, or above, historical averages for this time of year, including lakes Oroville and Folsom, which are full, and Shasta, which is nearly so, according to the most recent DWR water storage data.
Conversely, the statewide snowpack level is only 12% of normal for this date, with the all-important northern Sierra Nevada coming in at just 6% of normal, according to DWR data from Friday.
“California’s reservoirs are full, but most snowpack melted off weeks ago. We must use this stored water carefully because there’s no backfill until next season,” DWR Director Karla Nemeth said.
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