Water Supply Conditions

October 13, 2009  

As of October 12, storage in Lahontan Reservoir was 27,089 acre-feet.  Lahontan storage is expected to decrease to about 15,000 acre-feet by the end of October.  Inflow from the Carson River as measured at Fort Churchill for September 2009 was 4 acre-feet.  Inflow for October is expected to be 340 acre-feet.  Inflow from the Truckee Canal for September as measured at Hazen was 5,159 acre-feet.  Inflow for October is expected to be 4,758 acre-feet.  

At the March 9 Board of Directors meeting, the allocation was set at 80 percent of a full allocation.  The allocation was increased to 90 percent at the June 8 board meeting.  The allocation was increased to 100 percent at the August 7 board meeting.  As a reminder this means that all fields must be irrigated.

 The June 1, 2009 coordinated forecast for the Carson River near Fort Churchill for the 2009 April-July runoff was 110,000 acre-feet, which is 62 percent of average.  Actual April through July runoff was 111,700 acre-feet.  Demand below Lahontan was 38,400 acre-feet in September.  With the Carson River runoff and what is available from the Truckee Canal , the projected release from Lahontan for the 2009 season is 259,000 acre-feet, which is 100 percent of a full supply.  The minimum storage in Lahontan is expected to be 5,500 acre-feet by November 15.