The State Water Project announced Wednesday the Department of Water Resources is raising its allocation for the 2024 water season, which is good news, according to Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency officials.
The forecasted allocation for local agencies is now 15% of requested supplies, up from the 10% initial allocation announced in December.
In local terms, the increase represents approximately 5,000 more acre-feet of water to the SCV allotment, according to SCV Water Director of Water Resources Ali Elhassan, which is about 1.7 billion gallons of water. (For reference, 1 acre-foot of water is 325,851 gallons, and an Olympic-sized pool contains about 660,000 gallons.)
“A 15% allocation translates to about 14,250 acre-feet of water, which is an equivalent to 22% of our service area’s average annual demand,” he said. “Due to the recent storms in February, the snowpack in California has improved and the reservoirs are in better condition, which will also improve the chances of a further increase to the allocation over the next three months.”
The total increase in allocation is about 200,000 acre-feet of additional water for the 29 public water agencies that serve 27 million Californians.
This assessment does not include the results of any of the storms that hit California earlier this month, according to the Department of Water Resources.
The February allocation forecast update considers snow survey measurements and data up until Feb. 1.
“We will continue to assess our State Water Project allocation forecast as more storms materialize in February and March,” DWR Director Karla Nemeth said in a news release. “This season is an important reminder of our extreme conditions and shift to bigger, flashier storms and the need to continue increasing the state’s ability to capture and store stormwater when it comes as rain instead of snow.”
