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percent of the April 1 average. The numbers for the southern Sierra are 48 percent of average for the <br /> date and 15 percent of the April 1 average. <br /> DWR and cooperating agencies conduct manual snow surveys around the first of the month from <br /> January to May. The manual measurements supplement and check the accuracy of real-time electronic <br /> readings. <br /> Results of today's manual readings by DWR off Highway 50 near Echo summit are as follows: <br /> %of Long Term <br /> Location Elevation Snow Depth Water Content Average <br /> Alpha 7,600 feet _inches _inches Not Yet Available <br /> Phillips Station 6,800 feet 21.3 inches 4 inches 33 <br /> Lyons Creek 6,700 feet _inches _inches Not Yet Available <br /> Tamarack Flat 6,500 feet inches inches Not Yet Available <br /> Historic Comparison <br /> The average January 1 snowpack water content at Phillips Station is about 12 inches; the April 1 <br /> average 27.6 inches. Phillips had its lowest early-January water content reading of 0.1 inch in 2012, in a <br /> snow depth of only 0.6 inches. On January 3, 2014, Phillips had 2.3 inches of water content in 9.3 inches <br /> of snow. Besides that reading and the similar one in 2012, the driest January readings at Phillips were in <br /> 1987 (0.9 inches of snowpack water content), 1981 (2 inches), 1976 (2.7 inches) and 2000 (3 inches). <br /> Records at Phillips go back 50 years. <br /> DWR currently estimates it will be able to deliver only 10 percent of the slightly more than 4 million acre- <br /> feet of State Water Project (SWP) water requested for calendar year 2015 by the 29 public agencies that <br /> collectively supply more than 25 million Californians and nearly a million acres of irrigated farmland. It is <br /> hoped the initial 10 percent delivery estimate will increase as winter storms develop. <br /> The final SWP allocation for calendar year 2014 was 5 percent of the slightly more than 4 million acre- <br /> feet requested. In 2013, it was 35 percent, and in 2012, the final allocation was 65 percent. It was 80 <br /> percent in 2011, up dramatically from an initial allocation of 25 percent. The final allocation was 50 <br /> percent in 2010, 40 percent in 2009, 35 percent in 2008, and 60 percent in 2007. The last 100-percent <br /> allocation —difficult to achieve even in wet years because of Delta pumping restrictions to protect <br /> threatened and endangered fish —was in 2006. <br /> DWR weather watchers note that it's early in the season with plenty of time for the snowpack to build. <br /> The concern, however, is that irrigation-dependent San Joaquin Valley farms and some other areas will <br /> be hard hit if Water Year 2015 ends as the fourth full year of drought. Storage in key reservoirs has <br /> increased due to heavy December rainfall but is still far below normal levels for the date. <br /> Lake Oroville in Butte County, the State Water Project's (SWP) principal reservoir, today is at only38 <br /> percent of its 3.5 million acre-foot capacity (61 percent of its historical average for the date). Shasta Lake <br /> north of Redding, California's and the federal Central Valley Project's (CVP) largest reservoir, is at 41 <br /> percent of its 4.5 million acre-feet capacity (66 percent of average for the date). San Luis Reservoir, a <br /> critical south-of-Delta reservoir for both the State Water Project and Central Valley Project, is a mere 39 <br /> percent of its 2 million acre-foot capacity (58 percent of average for the date) due both to dry weather <br /> and Delta pumping restrictions to protect salmon and Delta smelt. Delta water is pumped into the off- <br /> stream reservoir in winter and early spring for summer use in the Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley, Central <br /> Coast and Southern California. <br /> Continuing dry weather prompted Director Cowin on December 13, 2013 to mobilize DWR's drought <br /> management team "to offset potentially devastating impacts to citizen health, well-being and our <br /> economy." <br />