Merced Irrigation District board to vote on water for farmers

The Merced Irrigation District’s board of directors is expected to decide on Tuesday how much water the water agency will deliver to farmers for the upcoming irrigation season.

The board’s operating budget tentatively has determined 275,000 acre-feet of surface water to be sold at $66 per acre-foot. That’s an increase of about 100,000 acre-feet from MID’s draft budget.

In a typical irrigation season, MID allocates about 500,000 acre-feet.

Last year at this time, MID said it wouldn’t release any water for farmers as a result of California’s severe drought. The water district and farmers would have to resort to pumping groundwater.

In July, MID released about 10,000 acre-feet of water, bringing Lake McClure down to its minimum pool of 115,000 acre-feet.

Lake McClure’s capacity is about 1 million acre-feet.

Though scattered El Niño storms in March have helped the reservoir’s water level increase a bit, it still falls short of its historical average.

On Sunday, Lake McClure was about 32 percent of its capacity, compared with the historical average of 58 percent.

Just a week prior, on March 20, the Old Exchequer Dam was finally submerged in water, MID officials reported. The 1920s-era dam had been exposed since 2013 because of drought conditions, providing historically rare opportunities for photographs.

MID officials have held off in announcing water allocations, waiting on March weather to make a determination.

The California Department of Water Resources has projected local summer runoff of about 420,000 acre-feet – which is just 66 percent of the average of 636,000 acre-feet, MID officials said.

Open session of MID’s board meeting will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Merced Civic Center, 678 W. 18th St.

This story was originally published March 27, 2016 at 5:38 PM with the headline "Merced Irrigation District board to vote on water for farmers."