Water district manager laments low SWP allocation during high water year

Water continues to flow over the spillway at Oroville Dam, but so far, the Department of Water Resources has not increased the Table A allocation to State Water Project contractors, including the Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District.

General Manager Tom Neisler told members of the district’s board on April 17 that the outflow from Lake Oroville has ranged from 5,000 to 14,000 cubic feet per second since late January.

“Virtually all of this water has flowed through the (Sacramento-San Joaquin River) Delta and out to the ocean with little to no beneficial use,” he said.

The local water district contracts to import water from the state project through the Kern County Water Agency. Lake Oroville, which impounds the Feather River in Northern California, has many purposes. It stores water and provides flood control, and its freshwater releases assist in controlling salinity intrusion in the Delta.

“The KCWA Board of Directors and the member unit managers, as well as the state water contractors, have expressed our ‘concern’ about this waste,” Neisler said. “DWR has repeatedly stated that they can do little about the situation due to the biological operating opinion which limits flow to the pumps that feed the SWP and CVP (Central Valley Project) systems.”

Neisler said the 2024 Table “A” allocation was raised to 30% on March 22. Last year’s allocation ended up being 100%.

“While good news, it still seems less than conditions warrant,” he said of the increase to 30%. “The snow water equivalent in the snowpack exceeded 118% of the April 1 average, and precipitation is greater than 100% almost statewide. Lake Oroville is still above the calculated flood regulation storage limit, and water is being drained over the spillway.”

In recent years, when the allocation has been less than local requests for water, the district has enacted a water priority ordinance. That ordinance limited deliveries to ag customers for the past two years, resulting in fewer acres planted.

The district plans to make up the allocation shortfall for customers this year, and has not yet passed a water priority ordinance. Instead it will fulfill current year requests with water banked during last year’s very wet year. An increased allocation would allow the district to continue to bank more water for the future.

In simplest terms, the biological opinion to which Neisler refers is an environmental document that water managers must observe to comply with requirements for endangered species conservation.

On April 19, the DWR reported that releases from Oroville Dam would reduce to 3,500 cfs on Saturday because of efforts to benefit migrating fish.

“These conditions further underline the variable and unpredictable nature of our SWP water supply,” Neisler said.

“As described last month, steelhead trout deaths in the Delta near the pumps have limited pumping to very low levels,” he told the water district board. “Now springtime limits on turbidity and temperature apply and further limit flows. Adding further insult on top of the previous insults, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has reported that they have genetically tested 1,600 steelhead salmon and determined 20 of them were native — not hatchery-raised — fish. The ITP (incidental take permit) is for native salmon only. That limit is 4,000 fish. They have verified that 20 such fish kills have been confirmed. The total is undoubtedly higher, but this disparity highlights the irrationality of the NMFS/CDFW regulatory morass.”

NMFS refers to the National Marine Fisheries Service.

BOARD BUSINESS

Also at the April 17 meeting, the board:

Made note of Jenny Pfeiffer’s 30th anniversary with the district.

Heard a report from Assistant General Manager Jon Curry about progress on the pump replacement project, meter installation and other operations.

Heard an update on its investments.

Heard a report from Neisler about natural gas purchases.

Scheduled a meeting of its ad hoc budget committee in preparation for developing the budget for next fiscal year.