U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Liberty Island is on the northwest edge of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

California is awash with water and its mountains are coated with thick layers of snow. That will mean good news this summer for households, businesses and other water users who have endured years of drought. 

But despite the flush conditions, created by relentless winter storms rolling in from the Pacific Ocean, one group will be forced to continue cutting back dramatically.

San Joaquin Valley farms, which provide most of the state’s produce, have been warned by the federal government to expect near drought-like water allocations this year from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta system.

Despite an abundance of available water, the federal pumping facilities that draw water out of the Mendota Canal near Tracy will be forced to operate at reduced rates to protect endangered delta smelt and salmon. San Joaquin farms have been pledged just 55 percent of normal contract levels.

The low allocation levels for the farms means that farmers will be forced to cut back on the amount of crops they can grow this year, according to Denis Prosperi, president of Families Protecting the Valley, a group that represents San Joaquin County farmers.

“For a farmer, he's out buying water and getting land set aside; you’ve got to buy your seed and you’ve got to prepare your land," Prosperi said. “If the allocation goes up, you can grow more.”

The inequity of the federal water allocations captured the attention of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who said in a statement Wednesday that the federal government would need to focus on new ways of storing and sharing water to improve the amount that can flow to San Joaquin farms south of the delta.

"The disconnect in federal water allocations is the worst I’ve seen in years," Feinstein said in a follow-up statement released Friday. "South-of-Delta farmers are getting only 55 percent of contractual amounts, a shocking number when the state snowpack is as high as 165 percent. That is simply unacceptable."

The amount of water in California’s snowpack, which feeds rivers throughout the year as it melts, is estimated to be 59 percent above average levels for this time of year — and rising.

For the first time in five years, following stubborn drought conditions, the Federal Bureau of Reclamation announced that it would provide 100 percent of the typical water supply to municipalities, nature reserves and some farms this year from the delta.

But, for San Joaquin farmers, the plight of smelt and salmon will continue to affect their access.  

Populations of smelt and salmon, which are critical members of the delta and Sierra Nevada ecosystems, have plummeted to precariously low levels in recent years as their river homes have grown dry and salty. Other factors have also contributed to their declines, such as poor ocean conditions and pollution.

Smelt are killed when they are sucked into the water pumps. Salmon populations have been recovering in this year, but the fish can be killed by the pumps or disorientated by their effects on river flows, which makes it difficult for them to return to their native spawning grounds.

“If you’re familiar with the pumps in the delta, they are so powerful that they have the power to reverse the flow of rivers,” said Pete Lucero, spokesman for the reclamation bureau.