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Kings River Runoff Almost 2X Earlier Estimates

June 17,2015

A Godsend For Fresno Farmers

Late Season Rain In Upper Kings Watershed Allow For Some Irrigation Delivery

Kings River

Kings River

After announcing in mid-May that for the first time in its history Fresno Irrigation District (FID) would deliver no surface water this year – a late season wet pattern in the upper Kings River watershed offered a bit of a reprieve for water users.

“Our growers tell us it is a godsend” says FID General Manager Gary Serrato. “We now believe we can make delivery of water to our constituents for 60 days.”

Serrato says the June storms in the upper Sierra is something new.”I have not seen storms like this in May and June.”

The district supplies water to some 6500 farmers locally as well as cities here.

Kings River Water Association Watermaster Steve Haugen says Kings runoff expectations are “dramatically different” than just a month ago.

”We were forecasting April to July runoff on the Kings at 120,000 acre feet.But after a series of storms in late May and June we now estimate we will get 210,000 acre feet.”  That’s a jump of about 190% or almost twice as much.

If the summer storms continue they could add to that forecast, he says.

Despite very low snowpack this year – inflows into Pine Flat Dam have added almost 50,000 acre ft to the reservoir in the past month bringing its total storage to around 281,000 af and still rising. Precip this year is 11.5 inches or 61% of average.

The big reservoir remains at record lows with the snowpack at around 16% of average. Storage typically reaches a peak in late June as irrigation season begins. Last year at this time the reservoir held 440,000 af and around 480,000 in June 2013.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

“We are still below the runoff amounts we saw in the two driest years in our history“ says Haugen, when “we saw 288,000 acre/ft of flows.”

Besides FID, 6 other irrigation districts tied to the Kings will get a bump-up in their allocation due to the extra supply said Haugen.

Some will get more days of irrigation then they were expecting he says.

Trying To Make A Meal

”We’re just trying to put scraps together here to make a meal.”

May and June have been wet in the upper Sierra and across the Western US. NOAA says May became the wettest May on record for the Lower 48 states, dating to 1895.

“Storms have been significant “says Serrato, particularly recent ones   that were associated with Pacific hurricanes where the remnants made their way into California.

Haugen says Sierra thunderstorms may be most productive when its humid and super hot in Fresno.

These recent storms dropped precip in the upper Kaweah basin too but KCWCD general manager Mark Larsen says much of it “just sunk in.” At Alta ID a spokesman says they will stick to the plan to provide no canal water this year, saying their allotment from Pine Flat is not as large as Fresno’s.

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