[Water_news] 2. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: SUPPLY - 4/20/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment 

 

April 20, 2007

 

2. Supply

 

Drought Now, Disaster Later? While forced rationing is at least a year away, experts hope today's conservation can help avoid tomorrow's crisis

Riverside Press Enterprise – 4/19/07

By Jennifer Bowles, staff writer

 

While forced rationing is at least a year away, experts hope today's conservation can help avoid tomorrow's crisis.

 

The three major sources of water for the Inland region are at critical lows but rationing and forced conservation are at least a year away, water officials say.

 

But if residents start limiting outdoor watering, which can account for 50 percent to 80 percent of a home's total water use, future shortages might be avoided or at least delayed.

 

This year's winter has been dismal: Snowfall in the local mountains is 30 percent of normal. An eight-year drought continues on the Colorado River. And the water content of the snow in the Sierra Nevadas is at its lowest level since 1990.

 

"We are OK for now, in the short-term it's good. It's the long-term where some tough decisions will have to be made," said Jeff Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District, which imports water that serves 18 million Southern Californians.

 

However, if a judge follows through with his threat to turn off the pumps in Northern California that provide about one-third of the Inland area's water, all bets are off. The judge on Wednesday reaffirmed his decision to give the state 60 days to obtain environmental permits for the pumps that are killing Delta smelt, an endangered fish, as they vacuum up large amounts of water.

 

"We will be running through our contingency plans and treat this as if an earthquake had cut off our water supply," Kightlinger said.

 

Loss of the Northern California water source would force Metropolitan to tap into its biggest insurance policy: a six-month reserve in Diamond Valley Lake near Hemet.

 

Though widely publicized, recent calls for water conservation in western San Bernardino County and Orange County are not related to the current drought situation, but stem from pipeline problems and plant upgrades.

 

Ample Supplies

 

The reason Inland Southern California can weather such a dry year is because most agencies have invested in desalting formerly unusable water, recycling and treating wastewater and storing imported and other water supplies underground so they can be pumped up later.

 

Across the state, most major reservoirs are in good shape at 80 percent of their capacity because of above-normal rainfall last year in Northern California.

 

"We can muddle our way through an ultra-dry year," said Jeff Davis, general manager of the San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency, which serves imported supplies to Calimesa, Beaumont, Banning, Cherry Valley and the Cabazon area. "The kicker is if you get a second dry year -- that's where you're going to get a lot of rationing."

 

More dry weather could be on the way, and for quite some time, according to some climate experts. This season was originally forecast by most to be a wet El Niño year but that faded quickly.

 

"I called it El Wimpo, El No Show," said William Patzert, a climatologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

Patzert believes the region is in the midst of a 20-year drought, with a considerable amount of years remaining. Recent reports on global warming show the Colorado River will endure longer and more extensive droughts.

 

Looking Outdoors

 

Residents are encouraged to switch to drought-tolerant plants and so-called smart sprinklers that adjust for the weather.

 

"Our best hope is to improve outdoor water use," said Davis, "and you don't have to put down rocks or cacti ... you can be smart about it."

 

Water agencies in the Inland region say lavender and rosemary shrubs and other aesthetically pleasing and aromatic plants can be used instead of cacti. Western Municipal Water District in Riverside, Coachella Valley Water District and a few other agencies have demonstration gardens to show residents what the plants look like. They occasionally hold seminars to tell residents how to plant them.

 

Some agencies such as the Perris-based Eastern Municipal Water District have started offering rebates beginning at $145 for homeowners who install smart controllers for irrigation, said Peter Odencrans, a district spokesman. Such devices, based on a study by the Irvine Ranch Water District in Orange County, can save more than 40 gallons per day per household in the Inland area, he said.

 

Eastern, which serves a 630,000 population from Moreno Valley to Hemet to Temecula, and other Inland agencies are encouraging residents and home builders to use "California friendly" landscaping employing drought-tolerant plants.

 

In Lake Arrowhead, where the lake is down by 4 feet, the local district doesn't allow any of its water to go to landscaping in new developments. The Lake Arrowhead Community Services District took the temporary move in February while it considers permanent measures, said April Blakey, a district spokeswoman.

 

As for the lawns of their current customers, she said, "We encourage our customers to keep it natural."

 

Outdoor water use takes such a big chunk out of the water supply that the Eastern Municipal Water District penalizes parks, school grounds, and industrial and commercial users that have more than 3,000 square feet of landscaping if they go above their water budget.

 

From 2000 to 2006, the agency collected penalties of more than $600,000, which goes back into conservation efforts, Odencrans said.

 

Randy Record, a San Jacinto farmer and board member for the Eastern and Metropolitan districts, said one can only go so far with trying to educate people and change habits.

 

"Eventually, you have to use a method that guarantees results, and that's the financial part of it," he said. "We really want to send the message that water is too important to waste."

http://www.pe.com/localnews/environment/stories/PE_News_Local_D_water20.3dfc6e0.html

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