The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), part of the Department of the Interior, operates the multipurpose federal Central Valley Project (CVP) in California, one of the nation's largest water conveyance systems (see Figure 1 ). The CVP extends from the Cascade Range in Northern California to the Kern River in Southern California. In an average year, it delivers approximately 5 million acre-feet of water to farms (including some of the nation's most valuable farmland), 600,000 acre-feet to municipal and industrial (M&I) users, 410,000 acre-feet to wildlife refuges, and 800,000 acre-feet for other fish and wildlife needs, among other purposes. The project is made up of 20 dams and reservoirs, 11 power plants, and 500 miles of canals, as well as conduits, tunnels, and other storage and distribution facilities. A separate major project operated by the state of California, the State Water Project (SWP), delivers about 70% of its water to urban users (including water for approximately 25 million users in the South Bay [San Francisco Bay], Central Valley, and Southern California); the remaining 30% is used for irrigation. Two federal and state pumping facilities in the southern portion of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers Delta (Delta) near Tracy, CA, are a hub for water deliveries from both systems. The confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers and the San Francisco Bay is often referred to as the Bay-Delta. After five years of drought, rain and snowstorms in Northern and Central California in the winter of 2016-2017 improved water supply conditions in the state in 2017. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, as of April 18, 2017, less than 1% of the state was in severe drought conditions. This represents a drastic improvement from one year ago, when 73% of the state was in severe drought conditions, and two years ago, when 92% fell under this designation. The stress on water supplies due to the drought resulted in cutbacks in water deliveries to contractors receiving water from the CVP and SWP. In 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown mandated the first-ever 25% statewide reduction in water use for nonagricultural users. On May 18, 2016, California's State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) adopted a new regulation that replaces the prior percentage reduction-based water conservation standard with a localized "stress test" approach, which remains in effect. On April 7, 2017, the governor lifted the statewide drought emergency, but maintained a number of prior executive actions aimed at saving water. After several consecutive years of cutbacks, in a series of announcements in spring 2017, Reclamation provided its estimated water allocations for CVP contractors in water year 2017 (October 2016 through September 2017). For the first time in years, water allocations for most CVP water contractors were 100%. Although some contractors south of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers' Delta (Bay Delta) received a lower allocation in the initial March 2017 announcement (65% for agricultural contractors and 90% for municipal and industrial contractors, respectively), Reclamation subsequently revised these allocations upward to 100% in April. Legislation enacted in the 114 th Congress (Subtitle J of S. 612 , the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation ([WIIN] Act) incorporated provisions from multiple California drought-related bills that had been considered dating to the 112 th Congress. These provisions directed pumping to "maximize" water supplies for the CVP (in accordance with applicable biological opinions), allowed for increased pumping during certain high water events, and authorized expedited reviews of water transfers. It is unclear the extent to which these provisions were used prior to 2017 allocations. The 115 th Congress is considering legislation that proposes additional changes to CVP operations. H.R. 23 , the Gaining Responsibility on Water Act (GROW Act), incorporates a number of provisions that were included in legislation during the 112 th -114 th Congresses, including those that were proposed in the 114 th Congress but were not included in the final version of the WIIN Act. The current Congress may consider these and other related changes, as well as oversight of CVP operations and implementation of WIIN Act CVP provisions. This report provides high-level summary information on recent hydrologic conditions in California and their impact on state and federal water management, with a focus on deliveries related to the federal CVP. It also summarizes some of the issues pertaining to CVP operations that are being debated in the 115 th Congress. As of April 18, 2017, less than 1% of California was in severe drought, as defined by the U.S. drought monitor. This amount represents a dramatic improvement from this time one year ago, when 73% of the state was subject to severe drought conditions, and two years ago, when 92% fell under this designation. The improvement was in large part due to heavy rain and snowfall in the winter of 2016-2017. As of March 2017, rainfall and snow-water content was 221% of average for the current water year. The April 1 snow-water equivalent is another important measure of California's water supplies. As of that date in 2017, statewide snow-water equivalent was approximately 164% of the historical average. As a result of increased precipitation, water levels at several of California's largest reservoirs also continued to rebound in 2017 relative to prior years (see Figure 2 ). In March 2017, all five of California's largest reservoirs were at more than 100% of their historical average and 73%-99% of their total capacity at this time. For the reservoirs specifically serving the CVP (i.e., Shasta, Trinity, Folsom, New Melones, Millerton Lake, and the federal half of San Luis ), water year 2017 began with a total of 4.9 million acre-feet in storage but by mid-March this amount had almost doubled, with more than 9 million acre-feet in storage. Proposals and debates related to water allocations in California typically revolve around the two major water projects that serve the state's agricultural and municipal water suppliers: the federal CVP and the state of California's SWP. Although these projects supply water to users throughout the state, the major CVP and SWP pumps that supply water for Central and Southern California are located at the southern end of the Bay-Delta. Thus, an important distinction when discussing CVP water allocations and deliveries is between "North-of-Delta" (NOD) and "South-of-Delta" (SOD) water users. Each year, Reclamation announces estimated deliveries for its CVP contractors in the upcoming water year. The CVP—which covers approximately 400 miles in California, from Redding to Bakersfield—supplies water to hundreds of thousands of acres of irrigated agriculture throughout the state, including some of the most valuable cropland in the country. It also supplies water supplies to some wildlife refuges and municipal and industrial (M&I) water users. More than 9.5 million acre-feet of water per year is potentially available for delivery from the CVP to its contractors. This figure includes water that is available for delivery based on prior agreements with the holders of water rights that predate the CVP (i.e., Sacramento River Settlement Contractors, San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors ) or contracts with CVP agricultural and M&I water service contractors. Figure 3 , below, depicts an approximate division of maximum available delivery amounts, by percentage. The largest contract holders by percentage are CVP's Friant Division contractors (24%), located on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley; the Sacramento River Settlement Contractors (22%), located on the Sacramento River; CVP SOD water service contractors (22%), located in the project area south of the Sacramento and San Joaquin River's Delta; and the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors (9%), located west of the San Joaquin River. In a normal water year, the CVP delivers much less than the maximum contracted amount. On average, approximately 7 million acre-feet of water is made available to CVP contractors (including 5 million acre-feet to agricultural contractors). In recent years, Reclamation has made significant cutbacks to water deliveries for many CVP contractors due to the drought, among other factors. In a series of announcements in February, March, and April 2017, Reclamation provided its initial allocations for the 2017 water year (see Table 1 , below). Reclamation announced that for 2017, it expected that a total of 8.8 million acre-feet of supplies would be available. In contrast to recent years, Reclamation estimated that it would be able to provide 100% of CVP water supplies for most water rights contractors with senior water rights predating the project, including Sacramento River Settlement Contractors and San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors. NOD CVP agricultural and M&I water service contractors also were expected to receive their full contract allotments in 2017, as were Friant Division contractors. Most CVP SOD agricultural water service contractors, including those in many of the state's largest and most prominent agricultural areas, received an initial allocation of 65% of contracted supplies, and SOD M&I contractors initially received a 90% allocation for 2017. However, these allocations were subsequently revised upward to 100% in April 2017. Prior to 217, the last time these users received 100% of their maximum contract allocations was 2006, and they have received their full maximum contract allocations only three times since 1990.