Twenty-five million Californians and 1 million acres of farmland depend on water from the State Water Project.
The announcement increases the water allocation from 15 to 20 percent and is enough to meet the needs of about 400-thousand households for a year.
Ted Thomas with the California Department of Water Resources says the additional water won’t come from Lake Oroville in northern California.
That water may be needed later in the year if there isn’t enough snow.
“I can’t emphasize enough the snowpack is our principle concern," says Thomas. "Unless things seriously turn around very quickly with a number of cold storms bringing snow to the mountains, we are going to have a very low allocation.”
Electronic readings currently show water content in the snowpack at 19 percent.
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