... The two reservoirs are used to hold supplies for agricultural
irrigation districts. Nemeth noted that winter is not the irrigation
season for farms, which require more supplies to grow crops in the
summer months, “so there isn’t a demand” for the water in the San
Joaquin Valley at this time. ...
Peter Gleick, a water scientist and senior fellow at the Pacific Institute, said dam managers would typically only release large quantities of water in the winter when major storms create a need to make space for large inflows of runoff. But Southern California has been very dry and the snowpack in the southern Sierra remains far below average, so “there is no indication that that’s why these releases occurred.”
“In addition, when those kinds of releases do occur, they’re always done in consultation with local and state agencies,” Gleick said.
“I don’t know where this water is going, but this is the wrong time of year to be releasing water from these reservoirs. It’s vitally important that we fill our reservoirs in the rainy season so water is available for farms and cities later in the summer,” Gleick said. “I think it’s very strange and it’s disturbing that, after decades of careful local, state and federal coordination, some federal agencies are starting to unilaterally manipulate California’s water supply.”
Vink agreed, saying that given how dry it has been in the region this winter, there was no need to make such a release. In fact, he said, farmers were counting on that water to be available for summer irrigation.
“This is going to hurt farmers,” Vink said. “This takes water out of their summer irrigation portfolio.” ...
