Years of low rainfall and snowpack and more intense heat waves have fed directly to the state's multiyear, unrelenting drought conditions, rapidly draining statewide reservoirs.
Meanwhile, further south, Lake Oroville is at 55% of its capacity , which is 70% of where it should be around this time on average.
Shasta Lake's water levels are now less than half of historical average.
"Cities and towns that receive [Central Valley Project] water supply, including Silicon Valley communities, have been reduced to health and safety needs only.".
Reclamation officials are in the process of securing temporary chilling units to cool water down at one of their fish hatcheries.
Both reservoirs are a vital part of the state's larger water system, interconnected by canals and rivers.
California depends on storms and wintertime precipitation to build up snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, which then gradually melts during the spring and replenishes reservoirs. »