The South San Joaquin Irrigation District board when they meet Tuesday is expected to delay the start of the 2026 irrigation season until March 18.
Should the board approve such a move, it is likely to provide the board chair and general manager with the authority to postpone it further if rain events justify doing so.
Earlier this month, the board established March 4 as the tentative start date.
Rainfall in the district from Feb. 15 thorough Feb. 19 was between 2.5 and 3.1 inches, depending upon the location.
A second storm is expected to arrive Tuesday, Feb. 24, with the potential to bring an additional 0.5 to 0.75 inches of rain.
Based on current hydrology, SJJID will be able to provide full water deliveries this year.
The February 1 Department of Water Resources snow survey estimated Stanislaus Watershed snowpack to be 54% average for this time of year and 34% of the April 1 average.
Based on the February snow survey, the estimate for unimpaired runoff at Goodwin is 620,000 acre-feet at the 90% confidence level.
With the operation of the Tri-Dam Project Reservoirs, actual inflow into New Melones is consistently higher than DWR estimates of unimpaired flow at Goodwin.
While recent February storms helped to ease extreme dry conditions, the lack of snow has kept the current San Joaquin River Hydrologic Index at critical.
New Melones Reservoir is currently sitting at 1.8 million acre-feet which is under the maximum allowable storage volume during the flood control season of 1.97 million acre-feet.
The Bureau of Reclamation has not made nor plans to make any flood control releases from New Melones in the foreseeable future.
That could be significant as Oakdale irrigation District and SSJID jointly hold a conservation account in New Melones Reservoir which is vacated first in the event of flood control releases. The jointly held conservation account is estimated to be full at 200,000 acre-feet.
Using current hydrologic projections, New Melones inflow is likely to exceed 600,000 acre-feet leaving a full 300,000 allocation to SSJID (less what was diverted in October 2025).
In the past during more severe droughts, SSJID imposed inch-limits for irrigation customers and operated the WTP to meet State imposed limits for urban customers.
Given the positive hydrologic projections, there are no planned official water restrictions for SSJID’s customers.
Regardless, in all year types, SSJID’s message to its customers has consistently been to use water as efficiently as possible avoiding waste and overflows.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
