(WesternFarmPress) - California farmers could get 10 percent surface water allocation from the state.

Early as it is in the season, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) says State Water Project (SWP) contractors could get 10 percent of their surface water allotment in 2016 if water conditions remain as they are today.

Predictions this early in the season tend not to mean much as final allocations in fickle weather years like this can change, particularly if El Niño comes through like forecasters are saying.

According to DWR, growers on the SWP received 20 percent of their allotted water in 2015, which is the second-lowest amount ever allocated. In 1991 farmers received no surface irrigation from the SWP. In 2014 SWP deliveries were five percent to all customers.

The last time growers received 100 percent of their promised water deliveries was 2006. Pumping restrictions in the San Joaquin/Sacramento River Delta cited to protect endangered and threatened fish species make it near-impossible for regulators to deliver full allocations of surface water to human beings.

There is a critical shortage of storage in the State Water Project (SWP), according to DWR.