| San Joaquin River Restoration Program 2025 Restoration Flow Schedule Update
Reclamation has finalized the 2025 Restoration Allocation. Based on a forecasted unimpaired runoff to Millerton Lake of 1,346,000 acre-feet, 269,355 acre-feet of water volume are allocated to Restoration Flows. This is a decrease of 2,827 acre-feet from the previous Restoration Allocation.
The Restoration Administrator, an independent body stipulated by the Settlement, has revised the river flow schedule in response to the Restoration Allocation and changing conditions. This schedule has now been approved by Reclamation.
An important change in the flow schedule is to reduce Restoration Flows in June and retain only minimal flows passing Gravelly Ford for the months of July and August. The record-setting number of returning adult Spring-run Chinook salmon have shifted the Program’s priorities toward maximizing salmon egg survival later in the year, therefore the release of cold water behind Friant Dam is shifted from summer into autumn. Read about the Program’s effort to preserve the cold-water pool here.
394 adult Chinook salmon are currently over-summering in the cool water below Friant Dam. Flows will begin increasing in September coinciding when salmon will begin laying eggs in the gravel riverbed. Eggs will hatch later in the autumn and young salmon will typically remain in river between Friant Dam and Highway 99 until spring when they will start to migrate to the Pacific Ocean.
The public is cautioned that San Joaquin River temperatures are still very cold, especially near Friant Dam. The public is encouraged to check Friant Dam releases before recreating near the San Joaquin River as conditions and flow schedules may change.
The Restoration Flow schedule has been set to the following:
|
Date
|
Friant Dam Releases
|
Flow Rate at Gravelly Ford
|
|
June 11 – June 27
|
Decreasing gradually from 375 cfs to
approximately 230 cfs
|
Decreasing from 165 cfs to
5 cfs
|
|
June 28 – August 31
|
Approximately 230 cfs
|
5 cfs
|
|
September 1 – 10
|
Increasing to 420-460 cfs
|
Increasing from 5 cfs to 195 cfs
|
|
September 11 – October 15
|
420 – 460 cfs
|
195 cfs
|
For Information about Restoration Flows, please visit http://www.restoresjr.net/restoration-goal/restoration-flows/.For the Restoration Administrator recommendations, please visit http://www.restoresjr.net/documentsreports/ra-recommendations/.
For additional information about the San Joaquin River Restoration Program, please visit http://www.restoresjr.net or contact Josh Newcom, Public Affairs Specialist, at 916-978-5508 or snewcom@usbr.gov. |
