A Democrat Assemblyman from Merced, Calif., is calling for an investigation into the state Department of Water Resources for its handling of spring runoff in 2021.

Assemblyman Adam Gray joins others in criticizing the agency for being caught flatfooted as warm spring temperatures created a rapid snowmelt and sent more water downstream to the Pacific Ocean.

He wants the California State Auditor to investigate the agency's operations and management.

“In the 2021 water year, California water officials disastrously miscalculated the moisture content of the Sierra Nevada snowpack,” Gray wrote in a recent op-ed in CalMatters. “Because the Department of Water Resources didn’t know how much water was in the snow, or how much would be absorbed by the parched ground beneath, the department grossly overestimated how much would flow into reservoirs. That led the department to allow nearly 700,000 acre feet – some say much more – to flow to the ocean.” 

Gray called the policy "malfeasance" and called for a probe of “the accuracy of its data collection, predictive models, reservoir operations, pumping regimes and the role of decisionmakers.”

DWR spokeswoman Margaret Mohr counters that California has been seeing extreme weather cyles, including this year's dry conditions that haven't been experienced in over 100 years. Sudden high temperatures last spring resulted in snowmelt evaporating or absorbing into the ground rather than running into rivers and streams.

This year the DWR has been working with federal and other partners to improve observations and hydrologic modeling that supports the water agency's forecasting efforts, Mohr told Farm Press in an email.

Preserving water

"Contrary to what Assemblymember Gray states, the Department of Water Resources is preserving as much water as possible in storage in Lake Oroville by only releasing water for critical human, agriculture and environmental needs," she said. "That benefits everyone including farmers and fish. 

"DWR has invested millions of dollars in new forecasting tools and entered into new partnerships with local, state and federal agencies to coordinate all our resources," she said. "We know it will take all of us working together to manage through this drought and we hope Assemblymember Gray will work with us too.”

Gray's criticism comes after the California Farm Water Coalition and others accused state and federal regulators last summer of poor planning for an extreme drought that led to numerous water rights holders receiving stop-diversion orders.

DWR director Karla Nemeth said after the latest manual snow survey on April 1 that the agency "has been planning for the reality of a third dry year since the start of the water year on Oct. 1.

“While DWR has made significant investments in forecasting technology and other tools to ensure we make the most out of the snowmelt we do receive, water conservation will remain our best tool in the face of this ongoing drought and the statewide impacts of a warming climate," she said. "All Californians must focus on conserving water now.”