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WESTLANDS' WATER SUPPLY
Unlike water agencies with more abundant supplies, Westlands must allocate (ration) water to its farmers, even in the wettest years. Its annual Contract entitlement from the Bureau's Central Valley Project (CVP) is 1,150,000 AF. The annual safe yield of the confined underground aquifer adds about another 135,000 AF to 200,000 AF. Thus, the total water available is about 15 percent (215,000 AF) short of the 1,500,000 AF required to water the entire irrigable area in the District.
The surface water supply is allocated to more than 535,000 acres eligible to receive Project water. (An additional 33,000 acres farmed in the District ineligible to receive Project water must rely solely on pumped groundwater.) The District has three separate priority areas of water allocation. During periods of drought, deficiencies are applied as an equal percentage of the Contract entitlement of each priority area.