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March 25, 2016 CapitalPress.com 5 March storms boost State Water Project allocation to 45 percent By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press SACRAMENTO — The abundant March storms in California will enable the State Water Project to deliver the most water it’s sent to cus- tomers since 2012. The state Department of Water Resources has boost- ed its allocation for most residents to 45 percent of re- quests, up from the 30 percent it estimated in late February. In all, the 29 water agen- cies that contract for SWP water will receive nearly 1.9 million acre-feet of their re- quested 4.17 million acre-feet of water in 2016, the state an- nounced March 17. Together the contractors serve about 25 million Californians and just under 1 million acres of irri- gated farmland. While they caution anew that the drought has not end- ed, water regulators say the boost was made possible by rain and snow that pushed the state’s two largest reservoirs — Shasta Lake and Lake Oro- ville — to slightly above their historic levels for this time of year. “February reminded us how quickly California’s Courtesy of Calif. Dept. of Water Resources Crews remove a temporary rock barrier from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta south of Sacramento in October. State oficials say the March storms eliminated the need to reinstall the barrier, which was to keep saltwater from intruding in the drought-depleted Delta. weather can turn from wet to dry,” DWR director Mark Cowin said in a statement, referring to the more than two-week period of warm and dry conditions that caused the statewide snow water content to drop from above normal to 80 percent of normal. “The lesson of this drought is that we all need to make daily conservation a way of life,” he said. After a series of delug- es this month, many areas are well above their average rainfall totals for March. Sac- ramento, for instance, had received 4.97 inches for the month as of March 17, well above its normal 1.66 inches for the month as of that date, according to the National Weather Service. Among other beneits, the storms will eliminate the need for DWR to build a temporary rock barrier to keep saltwater out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, as crews did in 2015. The DWR made an ini- tial allocation of 10 percent of requested deliveries in December but signaled the allocation could increase if a wet winter occurred. The estimate of deliveries was raised to 15 percent on Jan. 26 and to 30 percent on Feb. 24. Last year’s 20 percent fi- nal allocation was the state project’s second lowest since 1991, when agricultural cus- tomers got no water and mu- nicipal customers received 30 percent of requests. In 2014, SWP deliveries were 5 percent to all customers. This year’s deliveries will be the state’s most since 2012, when 65 percent of requests were met. The last 100 percent allocation was in 2006. The state’s boost comes as federal officials say the March storms could signifi- cantly help Central Valley Project deliveries, for which they have yet to make a for- mal allocation. The U.S. Bu- reau of Reclamation’s initial allocation could be made lat- er this month. By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press A federal judge has re- fused the USDA’s request to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Idaho potato farmers against restrictions related to the pale cyst nematode. The U.S. wasn’t known to harbor the nematode, which can reduce potato yields by up to 80 percent, until the pest was irst discovered in eastern Idaho in 2006. To prevent the nematode’s spread, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Ser- vice enacted quarantine regu- lations that affect roughly 175 square miles in Idaho’s Bon- neville and Bingham counties. Photo courtesy USDA Pale cyst nematodes infect a potato plant. A federal judge has refused the USDA’s request to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Idaho potato farm- ers against restrictions related to the pale cyst nematode. Farmers are prohibited from selling potatoes and other crops that risk carrying the pest in interstate com- merce unless they comply with APHIS rules for infested ields and those at risk of in- festation. Growers affected by the restrictions have claimed the testing requirements and oth- er procedures are excessive and go further than in other countries where the nematode is found. A lawsuit iled last year by 13 farms accuses APHIS of violating administrative law by imposing the regulations in an “arbitrary and capricious” manner and failing to follow public notice-and-comment requirements, among other allegations. “APHIS’s ad hoc and ev- er-changing protocols have put, and will continue to put, fields owned or farmed by plaintiffs into a circuitous and undefined state of reg- ulation for an undefined pe- riod of time,” the complaint said. Attorneys for USDA filed a motion asking U.S. Dis- trict Judge Edward Lodge to dismiss the lawsuit on ju- risdictional grounds because the growers lack the legal standing to challenge the regulations in federal court. Lodge has rejected that argument, finding that the farmers have plausibly claimed they’ve sustained injuries from the USDA’s actions that can be rectified in federal court. ROP-32-52-2/#17 Judge refuses to dismiss pale cyst nematode lawsuit 13-2/#4N