California Department of Water Resources officials say they'll be able to release a quarter of the water requested next year - and they expect that number to go up later in the season. Compare that to last year, when the initial allocation was only five percent. Mark Cowin is Director of the department:
"Our improved conditions today are based primarily on a wet October and improved carry over storage in lake Oroville up in Butte county."
Cowin says statewide, October rainfall was 250% percent of
normal. Lake Oroville is about half-full. Last year at
this time, it was about one-third full. Cowin says by the
spring, the water allocation could go as high as 60 percent if this
proves to be an average year for rain and snow. Last year's
final allocation was 50 percent.