California water districts will get more supply than planned

By KATHLEEN RONAYNE
Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California water officials say they’ll release more water than initially planned from state storage to local agencies that provide water to 27 million people.

The Department of Water Resources said Thursday it plans to give water districts 15% of what they’ve requested in 2022. That’s up from the 0% allocation announced in December, a historic low.

The increase comes after a very wet December that dumped huge amounts of snow in the mountains and partially refilled the state’s parched reservoirs.

But there hasn’t been a significant storm in January, and the state remains in drought.