State Of California

Drought, climate change and recent court decisions requiring more water to protect fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are endangering the water supply for California residents, he said. A reminder of the water system’s vulnerability came Thursday with the latest survey of the Sierra Nevada snowpack, which is measured throughout the winter and spring so state water managers can plan deliveries to farms and cities. The state Department of Water Resources reported the snowpack is 118 percent of normal for this time of year, reassuring after last year’s dry winter. Yet the department said it was immediately reducing water pumping through the delta to communities and farmers in the Central Valley, San Francisco Bay area and Southern California. The cutback complies with a December federal court order to protect the tiny delta smelt and will reduce water deliveries as much as 30 percent, the department said. The department’s survey showed snow was at 122 percent of normal for February in the northern Sierra, 110 percent in the central part of the range and 130 percent in the southern mountains. More California News

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