State Hopes to Double Water to Southland : Drought: Reservoirs that feed Southern California continue to fill. An increased allocation may bring the relaxation of rationing.

California water officials announced Thursday that they expect by April 1 to be able to double this year’s State Water Project allocation for Southern California, a drought-easing development that could mean a letup in some water rationing.

A bountiful supply of rain in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta has raised water levels rapidly in the San Luis Reservoir, a joint federal-state facility that feeds Southern California, said Larry Mullnix, a Department of Water Resources deputy director.

He said that if the reservoir continues to fill, he expects the state to be able to provide another 170,000 acre-feet to the Metropolitan Water District, the water wholesaler that provides most of the water to Southern California. He said there will continue to be no water deliveries this year to most agricultural customers of the State Water Project. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, or the amount a typical Los Angeles family of five uses in 18 months.

Until now, the state has been forced to cut deliveries to its municipal and industrial customers such as MWD to only 10% of the amount each had requested. For the MWD, which had asked for 1.7 million acre-feet from the State Water Project this year, the cutbacks meant it would get only 170,000 acre-feet and would have to rely almost entirely on water from the Colorado River to supply customers.

Mullnix said that if wet conditions continue, state deliveries to the MWD and other municipal and industrial customers will be boosted to 20% of their requested amounts for the year. Other customers include cities in Santa Clara County and Bakersfield in Kern County.

“Things do look very promising,” he said.

And while rain continued to fall on the West Coast, the House on Thursday approved a $42-million emergency drought-relief bill for California by an overwhelming bipartisan majority.

The 387-23 vote, uniting liberals and conservatives from both urban and rural areas, sent the legislation on to the Senate, where it is expected to get swift approval and reach President Bush for his signature next month.

Under its provisions, the federal government would get temporary authority to transfer water to hard-pressed cities and industrial users from the giant Central Valley Project as well as move water to where it is needed most.

Meanwhile, Mullnix said state water deliveries could be increased even more if Mother Nature continues to send rainfall through April.

“I can see it (deliveries from the State Water Project) going to 35% of the requested amounts if we have horrendous rainfall (in April),” he said, adding that he could not see deliveries getting any higher than that amount.

The announcement came as the MWD’s Board of Directors prepares for an April 8 reconsideration of a decision to cut deliveries to its Southern California customers by an average of 50%. The MWD rationing plan, which goes into effect April 1, would reduce deliveries to agriculture by 90% and to homes, businesses and industries by 30%.

Board member Carl Kymla, who represents the Municipal Water District of Orange County, asked the board to reconsider its decision earlier this month even before there was any talk of increasing state water deliveries to the MWD.

“I don’t think there is any question this (latest announcement) will help our cause,” he said.

By easing rationing restrictions, he said, he hoped to make more water available for Southern California’s permanent agricultural crops, particularly trees and vines. MWD officials have been under increasing pressure from avocado, citrus and kiwi growers to

relax rationing restrictions that they say would destroy crops.

“If we can relax the rationing program we most certainly want to,” said Assistant General Manager Richard Balcerzak. “We realize the hardship our consumers are facing with the plan as it presently stands.”

Mullnix said weather forecasts have made him increasing optimistic that the state will be able to release more water to Southern California.

Steve Burback, metrologist for WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times, said a storm system from the Gulf of Alaska is expected to sweep into Northern California on Friday night and push down to Southern California late Saturday and early Sunday. He said another storm will follow quickly, moving into Northern California on Sunday night and hitting Central and Southern California Monday.

The storms are expected to carry moderate snowfall and light rainfall, including some thunderstorms, Burback said. With them will come cooler temperatures, probably in the high 50s and low 60s.

He said a separate, “good-looking” storm system is appearing off the coast of Southern California, and it should press inland by Tuesday.

Despite the continued rainfall, Mullnix said, the state remains in a severe drought, especially in Northern California, where water is collected and stored for Southern California’s use during the summer.

“Unfortunately we have had a lot of water in Southern California that didn’t go into Northern California reservoirs,” he said.

Water Resources Department statistics show that as of March 19, state and federal reservoirs held 8.9 million acre-feet, or only 49% of the 18.17 million acre-feet average for that time of year.

Bill Helms, a spokesman for the department’s Drought Center, said water content in the Sierra snowpack is about 15.8 inches, or 59% of the 27-inch average for late March.

But other state officials said California’s prospects for surviving this year’s drought without too much hardship have brightened with the unexpected success of a state water bank created by Gov. Pete Wilson to allow water-rich areas to share their bounty with water-poor areas.

“The water bank has been extraordinarily successful,” Douglas Wheeler, Wilson’s resource secretary, told a Water Education Foundation meeting Thursday.

He said the bank has 380,000 acre-feet for which “there are firm contracts” and promises for another 300,000 acre-feet.

“It is now clear that we are going to far exceed the governor’s objective of 500,000 acre-feet for the water bank. In fact, we are attempting to acquire as much as a million acre-feet,” he said.

In Washington, California’s representatives credited Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), acting chairman of the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, for shaping a modest, bipartisan, non-controversial bill and speeding its passage through Congress.

“This legislation will remove the legal plugs in the state’s plumbing system,” said Rep. Bill Lowery (R-San Diego).

The legislation authorizes $30 million for digging wells to provide additional water and for constructing barriers to stop salt water from coming into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta area.

It also authorizes $12 million for research and construction of a temperature control device at Shasta Dam. The device would cool water to help save endangered salmon in the Trinity and Upper Sacramento rivers.

However, money for the programs is contained in a separate emergency appropriations bill being negotiated by the House and Senate, and money for the Shasta Dam is not likely to be approved this year.

Miller, who scored a big success on the first bill he has managed since taking over as acting chairman of the Interior Committee, was optimistic about the House bill. He said that it should be acceptable to the Senate without major change.

“It’s ironic that it’s raining and snowing in California but conditions have only gone from critical to bad,” Miller said during debate on the bill. “The recent rains are welcome but are not expected to lift the state out of its drought condition.”

Virginia Ellis reported from Sacramento and William J. Eaton reported from Washington.