The latest winter snow survey by the California Department of Water Resources indicates that snowpack water content is looking good for this time of year. Elissa Lynn is the state's senior meteorologist.
Lynn: Well it's been a pretty dry March but thankfully the beginning of the season was productive with lots of storms coming through. So right now we're standing at about normal.
Although there has been a return to average snowpack figures, State Water Project deliveries remain near record lows because of a federal court ruling restricting Delta pumping to help protect the threatened Delta smelt. Lynn says less water from the snowpack will also crimp supply.
Lynn: The runoff from the Sierra probably at the end of this water year will be about 72 percent of normal. So even though the snow was good for a couple of months we don't have all the accumulated runoff that we would like to have seen from a whole season, so that's still below average. But I don't think we're going further toward drought conditions.
Future water deliveries to San Diego and elsewhere in the state will be limited by reduced supply. The state water project is projected to deliver only 35 percent of requested amounts this year to all users from Northern California to San Diego.
The county water authority is urging San Diegans to step up their conservation efforts to prevent mandatory cutbacks.
Snow surveys are conducted monthly from January through May to help forecast the amount of spring and summer runoff into reservoirs. The readings at this time of year are generally considered the most significant in gauging how much water is being held in the Sierra snow pack.
