Sierra snowpack above normal; Delta pumping restrictions start

SACRAMENTO
February 28, 2008 3:10pm

The Sierra Nevada snowpack has water content that is 118 percent of average for the end of February, the California Department of Water Resources says.

“California’s snow pack is in good shape with statewide average water content just over the normal April 1 peak,” says DWR Hydrology Branch Chief Arthur Hinojosa. “Nevertheless, additional precipitation is still needed to alleviate the deficits to water supply conditions that existed at the start of the season.”

The snowpack average was announced following the monthly manual measures high in the Sierra. In some places the snow was more than eight feet deep.

Today’s snow survey was the third of the 2008 snowfall season. The most recent electronic sensor readings show Northern Sierra snow water equivalents at 122 percent of normal for this date, the Central Sierra at 110 percent, and the Southern Sierra at 130 percent.

Statewide, the percentage of normal is at 118 percent. Electronic sensor readings one year ago showed the Northern Sierra at 69 percent of normal, the Central Sierra at 64 percent and the Southern Sierra at 52 percent. The statewide average was 63 percent.

While this would normally be a positive indication that the state’s water supply is in good shape, DWR says it must further reduce Delta pumping immediately to comply with a federal court order limiting water exports to the Central Valley, southern California and the Bay Area.

State Water Project exports, which would typically be at about 8,000 cubic feet per second at this time of year to fill south of Delta storage and provide water to communities and farms, will be cut to about one-quarter of that amount to protect Delta smelt that might be impacted by water project operations. This reduction initially will last up to seven days, DWR says.

In December 2007, the U.S. District Court in Fresno ruled that use of the giant pumps near Tracy must be curtailed to protect the threatened Delta smelt, a minnow-like fish vital to the ecosystem that has seen its population decline drastically in past years.

This year’s pumping reduction will reduce the amount of water that can be allocated to the 29 state water contractors this year between 11 and 30 percent, DWR says.