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The EPA sequestered (gets first dibs) 10,400 cubic feet per second for environmental reasons. That is shown in the lower bubble-gum-pink, horizontal line.
The jagged, blue line is the actual discharge of the Sacramento River at Freeport (just downstream of Sacramento where the tides peter-out) for the last 12 months.
Agriculture, industry and urban needs come out of what is left. In a typical year that is about 68% of what the EPA demands or roughly 12,000 cubic feet per second during the growing season. At the time of this writing, there will be ZERO water available for agriculture out of the Sacramento River for the 2022 growing season.
This works out OK in an average year. There is enough capacity in the reservoir system to make it all work out.
Given California's Mediterranean Climate with wet winters and dry summers, and highly variable rainfall in atypical years, something is going to break during stretches with less-than-average rains.
Somebody had an idea
The idea is stone-cold simple: Don't drain the fields during the winter. Let is soak in so the grape vines and almond and walnut trees can "mine" that water during the growing season.
What they do not mine can recharge the over-taxed ground-water aquifiers.
Visually, that means that those peaks that stick up above the pink line can be retained IN THE FIELD where the rain fell and not spilled out to the San Fran bay.
It does not work for every crop. Some rootstocks are freakishly sensitive to wet soils.
But it works for many crops. The soil temperatures are cooler and that slows the reproduction of many disease organisms. The cooler temperatures also reduce the roots' demand for oxygen.
Most grape rootstock used in California has a goodly dose of Vitis riparia (i.e. Riverbank Grape) in its pedigree and are fairly resistant to inundation. Heck, rivers flood all the time.
Many plum/peach/almond rootstock are also fairly resistant.
Walnut rootstocks are more susceptible in general but of the common rootstocks clonal Paradox RX1 has proven most resistant to flooding issues.
Farmers will have to figure out when to open the gates to drain the fields. There are many operations that must be done early in the growing season, especially with the plums/peaches/almonds, to control pests.
Hat/tip Billybob in Arizona
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