Central Valley Project releases 2025 initial water allocation

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Farmers and water district managers are getting an idea of the water outlook for the season.

The initial 2025 Central Valley Project allocation was announced on Tuesday, those numbers are critical for farmers to plan.

"It allows them to make the important decisions that they need to in terms of what crops they're going to grow, how many acres, what seedlings they need to buy, what equipment they need," said Allison Febbo, Westlands Water District.

The outlook also gives banks an idea of how much they can finance growers.

The allocation is 35%, which is significantly higher than last year's 15%.

It's better, but still low.

Allison Febbo with the Westlands Water District says a low initial allocation makes it difficult for growers to get financing for their operations meaning they can't hire as many workers or plan well for the upcoming season, especially when it hasn't been an overly dry season and they know more rain is predicted.

"It was frustrating to have such low allocation last year, knowing that we would be seeing an increase sometime in the future, but not being able to depend on that," said Febbo.

"So now, with this initial allocation being higher. Our growers know that they can depend on that water to be there, and they can make these important decisions that support our local economies."

Febbo says the outlook could be much better if there was more storage in the state which has become a nationwide discussion.

Tuesday, Governor Gavin Newsom praised the President's decision to release funding for the state's Sites Reservoir Project which he said will hold enough water supply for more than 4 point 5 million homes for a year.

Congressman Jim Costa said he's continuing to work at the federal level for funding to increase storage and recharge groundwater and hopes some projects will be done relatively soon.

"Sites reservoir, we hope to get complete within the next 18 months," said US Rep Jim Costa, (D) Fresno. "That would be a million and a half acre feet of additional water that we could begin construction. The governor and many of us are trying to move the permitting process so that we can begin that construction asap, as you noted."

35% is just the initial allocation there will be more water supply updates over the coming weeks as we expect more storms.

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