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The Department of Water Resources says it will increase water from state reservoirs from 15 percent of what was requested to 20 percent. Despite recent rains, they warned Wednesday that the state remains in a dangerous drought.
Late storms have increased the Sierra Nevada snowpack to about 90 percent of normal. But state reservoirs are well below average. Water also must be reserved for fish in the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The state water irrigates 750,000 farm acres besides serving millions of residents across California.
Water agencies say the cutbacks mean lost jobs, fallowed fields and water rationing.
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