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BACKGROUND <br /> The four Tri-Valley Water Retailers (the cities of Livermore and Pleasanton, the Dublin <br /> San Ramon Services District and the California Water Service Company-Livermore <br /> District) (TWRG), provide potable water service to approximately 95 percent of the <br /> Valley's municipal and industrial water customers. These agencies receive <br /> approximately 85 percent of their potable water supplies through contracts with Zone 7. <br /> Zone 7, in turn, receives approximately 80 percent of its water supply from the State <br /> Water Project (SWP), which conveys water from the northern Sierra Nevada through the <br /> Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta (Delta) to the Harvey O. Banks Pumping Plant (located in <br /> Byron, eight miles northwest of the City of Tracy), where it is pumped into the California <br /> Aqueduct for delivery to Zone 7 (through the South Bay Aqueduct) and twenty-eight other <br /> SWP contractors. <br /> The most important issue facing the Tri-Valley's water supplies continues to be the <br /> curtailment of water deliveries from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) by the <br /> State Water Project (SWP) due to environmental mitigation requirements. As discussed <br /> below, even though snowfall and rainfall in the spring of 2011 was above normal, and <br /> most of the state's major reservoirs are above normal storage levels, deliveries from the <br /> SWP in 2011 were still only 80 percent of contracted amounts. The extent and duration <br /> of the curtailments is uncertain, and steps necessary to mitigate or offset the effects of <br /> curtailment are mired in political stalemates or facing environmental or institutional <br /> resistance or opposition. The last 100 percent allocation was in 2006, prior to the <br /> implementation of Delta pumping restrictions. <br /> 2011 Hydrologic Conditions <br /> Water Years 2007 through 2009 represented the twelfth driest three-year period in <br /> California's 100-year hydrologic record. Annual statewide precipitation averaged 63 <br /> percent in 2007, 72 percent in 2008 and 76 percent in 2009. Fortunately, hydrologic <br /> conditions improved in both 2010 and 2011 . The 2010 Water Year (which began on <br /> October 1, 2009) had average precipitation (107 percent of average through May 2010) <br /> and an above-average Sierra snowpack. The 2011 Water Year (which began October 1, <br /> 2010) had above average precipitation (145 percent of average through May 2011) and <br /> an above-average Sierra snowpack On May 2, 2011, DWR's final snow survey for the <br /> 2010-2011 season indicated that the water content in the mountain snowpack was 144 <br /> percent of average for the date. <br /> As a result of the increased precipitation and snowfall in the 2010-2011 season, reservoir <br /> levels improved significantly as compared to the previous year. <br /> DWR's 2011 Water Allocations <br /> In November 2010, DWR set the initial 2011 SWP allocation at 25 percent of total <br /> contracted water deliveries to SWP contractors. The initial allocation was a conservative <br /> delivery estimate and was much improved from 2010's initial projection of only 5 percent. <br /> Page 2 of 10 <br />