LSID has various sources of water supplies available to it depending on the year type. The primary sources of water are:
FRIANT WATER
The District contracts with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for its primary surface water supply which comes from the Friant Division of the federal Central Valley Project.
The Friant Division of the CVP employs a unique “Class 1/Class 2” water contracting system. Class 1 water is commonly referred to as the “firm yield” of the project, but there years where the project does not provide the full amount of Class 1 water . The first 800,000 acre-feet that is made available from the project is Class 1 water.
Class 2 water is the next 1.4 million acre-feet that develops from the project. Class 2 water is available only after all of the Class 1 water has been made available. In an “average” water year, about 650,000 acre-feet of Class 2 water develops from the project.
LSID has contracted for 27,500 acre-feet of Class 1 water.
KAWEAH RIVER SUPPLY
The District owns approximately 24% of the shares of the Wutchumna Water Company. The water supply is variable, but averages approximately 14,000 acre-feet per year that the District manages to help ensure a reliable dry-year supply for the District Landowners.
TRANSFERS AND EXCHANGES
This District has historically employed water management strategies that involved strategic transfers and exchanges of surface water supplies to create new water supplies for either current or future water year needs.