Public input was also considered in the Board’s decision. Attendees of the 2025 Spring Water Symposium on Tuesday, April 8, were asked to offer input, and other interested water users provided direct input to Northern Water officials.
The Board has been setting C-BT quota since 1957, and 70 percent is the most-common quota declared. In April 2024, Board members set the quota at 70 percent, but because of changing conditions they increased the quota to 80 percent later in the season. In 2023, the final quota was 70 percent. Quotas are expressed as a percentage of 310,000 acre-feet, the amount of water the C-BT Project was initially envisioned to deliver to project allottees each year. A 70 percent quota means that the Board is making 0.70 acre-feet of water available this year for each C-BT Project unit, or collectively, 217,000 acre-feet.
The quota increases the available C-BT Project water supplies by 62,000 acre-feet from the initial 50 percent quota.
Water from the C-BT Project supplements other sources for 33 cities and towns, 120 agricultural irrigation companies, various industries and other water users within Northern Water’s 1.6 million-acre service area. According to recent census figures, more than 1 million residents now live inside Northern Water’s boundary. Visit our website to learn more about Northern Water and the C-BT quota.