For The First Time In 17 Years, California Is Ready To Fill Everyone's Water Requests. LA Is Getting Its Share

For the first time in 17 years, California’s Department of Water Resources says it is going to deliver 100% of the water requested by agencies that are part of the State Water Project.

“Water supply conditions and careful management of reservoir operations during this extreme winter allows DWR to maximize water deliveries while enhancing protections for the environment,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth in the agency's statement announcing the news. “DWR is moving and storing as much water as possible to the benefit of communities, agriculture, and the environment.”

On average, 40% of L.A.’s water comes from the SWP. The Colorado River also contributes a large portion to our region, and L.A. also draws from its water storage up at Owens Valley Lake. Several reservoirs are nearing capacity across the state, with Lake Oroville, one of our largest, expected to be full by the end of the month. Diamond Valley Lake, the largest SoCal reservoir, is also expected to be refilled.

In this aerial photo, the Enterprise Bridge is seen at Lake Oroville in Oroville, California, on April 16, 2023. A very wet winter has left California's reservoirs looking healthier than they have for years, as near-record rainfall put a big dent in a lengthy drought.

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DWR said in its announcement that a wet winter and strong runoff conditions have allowed them to make water available to anyone who has the space in their system to store it to store it.

It's welcome news for water districts that are heavily reliant on the SWP for their H2O — just six months ago, water allocation was expected to be as low as 5%. Las Virgenes Municipal Water District in Calabasas, which relies completely on water from the SWP, was in particularly bad shape and considering complete bans on outdoor water use.

In an interview with LAist's public affairs show AirTalk, which airs on 89.3 FM, Las Virgenes' Public Affairs Manager Michael McNutt told host Austin Cross that on Tuesday, the district sunset its water shortage contingency planning, meaning customers in the district no longer have specific water restrictions imposed upon them. The district had already resorted to austere water cuts for its customers, and even installed flow restrictors on certain customers who were exceeding their water budget multiple times over.

"What we're asking all of them to do is stay within their efficient tier of their [water] budget, because they've had three years of doing more with less that we're hoping that momentum just continues forward."

Listen to the conversation

McNutt says the whole drought saga has forced Las Virgenes to look differently at its position as a water district than it has in the past. He says in the past, the relationship has been mostly transactional — the district supplies the water to customers, who pay the district in return. But that's not the model they're using anymore.

"The new model consists of course, us providing reliable water. But the other part to it is that we have to take on the responsibility, and are, for educating the customer and providing tools to the customer that they can use to make better informed choices and decisions on how they use water."

McNutt says just as his district is re-evaluating its role and relationship to its customers, so too must Americans re-evaluate their idea of curb appeal for their home — and that it may just not be reasonable anymore to expect to have the idyllic house with the white picket fence and lush, green lawn.

"Since the inception of our country, the American dream has had a house, a white picket fence...and guess what? A green lawn. And that is really where it's installed in our psyche to think...that is how we've 'made it'...so changing our idea of what is aesthetically pleasing for our lawns or for what our curb appeal is to something that makes sense is exactly the transition that needs to happen."

While almost no one in California is going to scoff at good news about drought conditions, full reservoirs and rising SWP allocation rates won't wipe away state water watchers' concerns about reserves. Given ongoing problems with groundwater, the Colorado River, and the fact that the next drought is always right around the corner, conservation will continue to be a constant.

Current reservoir levels