Grass Valley, CA (Feb. 8, 2023) – Confirming that the recent storms have had a positive impact on the Nevada Irrigation District’s (NID) water supply, the Board of Directors supported a declaration for surplus water during its Feb. 8 meeting.

“Surplus means the District has more water than we anticipate utilizing for the entire summer season,” said NID Operation Director Chip Close.

The surplus declaration is important as it allows NID to provide water service to roughly 35 outside-District customers per an annual contract. The cities of Grass Valley and Nevada City are also outside-district customers supplied via long-term surplus water.

The Board also rescinded the 2022 Drought Contingency Plan measures, which lifts the mandate to achieve water savings of up to 20 percent.

Last year, the severity of drought led to Governor Newsom’s enactment of a number of Emergency Orders that required implementation of the drought contingency plan at a level to achieve savings of up to 20 percent as compared to 2020.

Thankfully, the start of the 2022/2023 winter has provided significant amounts of precipitation and snowpack to greatly improve the District’s current and forecasted water supply portfolio.

Given this, water conservation remains important: The more water we can save today; the more we have available tomorrow. The message is ‘be responsible.’ It’s always a good idea to conserve water.

As of Jan. 26, the District's Bowman Lake Reporting Station has received 57.14 inches of precipitation which is 163 percent of average for this date. The robust storm systems have filled and spilled the District’s lower elevation reservoirs and led to a snowpack that is 184 percent of average, which is anticipated to fill all of the District’s higher elevation reservoirs. Current District reservoir storage is 230,323 acre-feet, which is 120 percent of average for this time of year.

Each year, prior to the start of irrigation season that begins in mid-April, Directors review forecasted water supply conditions to consider a surplus water declaration for the upcoming summer months.

Read the Water Operations Staff Report here.