-May 27,2022-
Drought Monitor worse
An already grim situation just got worse for California in this week’s U.S. Drought Monitor report.
‘Exceptional drought’ expanded in parts of California’s agricultural Central Valley north of Los Angeles in this week’s report. That is the most severe of the weekly update’s four drought categories.
The area includes portions of Kern, Tulare, Fresno, Madera, Mariposa and Tuolumne counties. The flat region that dominates the central part of the state has some of the most productive farmland in the country, including vast crop fields with fruits, grains, nuts and vegetables.
Friant gets some possible good news
Reclamation will meet with Friant Contractors on June 10th to discuss potential operations scenarios on the Friant system based on June 1st conditions and the updated export forecasts. The Central Valley Operations (CVO) Office in Sacramento has updated its operations forecast based on May 1st conditions and they are now indicating the likelihood that exports will increase from one pump to 2-3 pumps on or near July 1st. Such a change would eliminate the need to continue releases from Friant Dam and increase the potential that the Friant water supply allocation could increase above 15%. The potential amount and timing of any increase is still uncertain.