Rain poured steadily in the days leading up to the California Department of Water Resources’ announcement Monday of another gloomy water supply forecast and the continued effects of the statewide drought.

According to the 2015 allocation projections released by the DWR, contractors that buy water from the State Water Project (SWP) — including Castaic Lake Water Agency — can currently expect only 10 percent of their contract amounts this coming year, and if dry conditions persist, that number could be reduced even further.

“The irony didn’t escape anyone,” said CLWA General Manager Dan Masnada. “Just as the allocations were being announced, here in Santa Clarita we were about to get hit with the most significant rain we’ve seen in a very long time.”

That, Masnada said, only illustrates what local water leaders have been saying for the past couple of months. The drought California has endured for the past several years is so severe, its impacts so deep, that any one storm or series of storms will not bring it to an end.

“If it rained like this all winter long, then we’d be talking about an end to the drought,” Masnada said. “We’d be gratefully soggy. We’re glad to see this rain — it’s common knowledge that we need it — but people would be mistaken to view any single storm, or even one long, wet week, as signaling the end of our drought troubles.”

In making the announcement, DWR officials said they “considered several factors, including California’s persistent drought and resulting low storage in SWP conservation facilities.” Additional factors included SWP operational constraints and ensuring sufficient fresh water remains for several endangered species of fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The initial allocation announced Monday was reminiscent of the allocation announced a year ago, when the DWR announced the 29 agencies that buy SWP water would receive 5 percent of the water they requested. In January, that allocation was reduced to zero for the first time ever in the State Water Project’s 54-year history.

The 2014 allocation prompted CLWA, the four local water retailers, the City of Santa Clarita and Los Angeles County to cooperate on voluntary water use restrictions.  This past summer, mandatory restrictions on water use were implemented locally to comply with a statewide order to reduce water use. Those mandatory restrictions include an address-based schedule of odd-even irrigation days and a ban on certain types of water use, such as hosing down sidewalks and driveways.  Details on those restrictions can be found under the “Drought Info” tab at clwa.org.

Residents and businesses are asked to continue to adhere to those restrictions and, in fact, when wet weather does occur as it has this week, to save additional water by shutting off irrigation systems and using the “free irrigation” provided by Mother Nature.

Meanwhile, if the initial allocation holds, CLWA will receive 9,520 acre-feet of water from the State Water Project in 2015, as opposed to its maximum contracted amount of 95,200 acre-feet. An acre-foot is enough water to cover one acre of land a foot deep.

Water leaders are crossing their fingers in hopes that the recent wet weather is a sign of things to come.

“We’re of course eager to see more precipitation throughout the state, and we’d love to see a healthy snowpack in the Sierras, which is where a lot of California’s water comes from,” Masnada said. “Statewide, the reservoirs have gotten so low, it will take a lot of rain and snow to fill them back up. What we’ve seen this week is a good start but, as evidenced by the initial allocation from the state, it doesn’t end the crisis. However, with additional precipitation during this coming winter, in particular December, January and February, DWR would be able to increase its 2015 allocation, but again, more than likely not to a level that would be considered sufficient to end the drought.”

About the Castaic Lake Water Agency

The Castaic Lake Water Agency (CLWA) is the Santa Clarita Valley’s public water wholesaler. CLWA is one of 29 State Water Project contractors and receives water imported from northern California and Kern County through the California Aqueduct.  CLWA operates three large treatment plants, three major pump stations, three water storage facilities and over 45 miles of large diameter transmission pipelines delivering water to four local water retailers.  Our mission is to provide reliable, quality water at a reasonable cost to the Santa Clarita Valley. www.clwa.org