Friant Forecast: Less water for contractors

The December Deluge is turning into a January Jump in water deliveries for eastside growers.

A “conservative forecast” is calling for Friant Division contractors to receive 100 percent of Class 1 water and 15 percent of Class 2 water in 2011, Friant Water Authority General Manager Ron Jacobsma said Thursday.

Friant Division contractors, whose water supply is delivered from Millerton Reservoir on the San Joaquin River, are forecasted to receive 800,000 acre feet of Class 1 water and 210,000 acre feet out of a possible 1.4 million acre feet of Class 2 water.

The forecast, while slightly below average, will still “meet immediate irrigation demands” if accurate, Jacobsma said.

In past years, Friant Division contractors have received 100 percent of Class 1 water and 30 percent of Class 2 water.

Class 1 water goes to contractors who need a solid water supply. A small percentage of Class 2 water is used to meet irrigation needs while most of it goes toward replenishing the ground supply, Jacobsma said.

The two classes of water are unique to the Friant Division, which serves farmers on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley, Jacobsma said.

The Interior Department bases its forecasts, which are 90 percent accurate, on how much water is in area reservoirs, how much snow has accumulated in the mountains and what historical data shows, Jacobsma said. It is also based on at least average precipitation for the next three months.

The forecasts are “fairly reliable” but “subject to change,” he said.

“We’re hoping to get more rain and snow,” he said.

The forecasts are meant to help farmers decide how land to set aside for crops, what banking arrangements need to be set up and what labor arrangements need to be made, Jacobsma said.

Storms from the middle of December through the first few days of January deposited more than 7 inches of rain in Porterville and several feet of snow in the mountains. As of Thursday, the state said the snowpack statewide was 79 percent of the April 1 average and 157 percent of average for this time of year. However, the past two weeks of dry weather has seen those percentages shrink considerably.