Thursday April 27, 2023
ABC News —
The West may be out of the woods in ensuring its water supply this year, but the water crisis is still very much alive, experts caution.
Last week, the California Department of Natural Resources announced that the state would receive 100% water allocation for the first time since 2006, meaning that communities and farmers under the State Water Project would receive all of its water requests for the year.
In February, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced that the Central Valley Project, which obtains its water from the Colorado River, would also receive 100% water allocation — the first time since 2017. Further south, the Imperial Valley could also receive higher-than-usual water allocation, due to California’s senior water rights in the Colorado River Compact, experts told ABC News.
The heavy influx of water comes after several rounds of atmospheric rivers pummeled the West Coast during the wet season. So much precipitation fell that more than 65% of California is no longer experiencing drought conditions, a map from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows.