[Water_news] 1. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS - Top Items for 6/28/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment

 

June 28, 2007

 

1.  Top Items

 

Voluntary water cuts portend a dry future; Conservation effort will debut today - San Diego Union Tribune

 

Water authority announces water saving campaign - North County Times

 

 

Voluntary water cuts portend a dry future; Conservation effort will debut today

San Diego Union Tribune – 6/28/07

By Mike Lee, staff writer

 

Reminders of the last major drought will loom larger today when regional leaders ask residents to cut their daily water use by 20 gallons per person.

 

The “20-Gallon Challenge” is an unprecedented step by the San Diego County Water Authority to reduce demand so mandatory cutbacks might be avoided. The agency has focused on conservation since the 1987-92 drought, but this is its first voluntary reduction campaign that has a specific target for each resident.

 

The authority's goal equates to roughly a 10 percent reduction in water use, comparable to what other agencies are pushing statewide. Its efforts are backed by politicians, farmers and business leaders in the region.

 

Water officials don't expect everyone to meet their challenge. But if there were full compliance, the region could save about 70,000 acre-feet a year – enough for 140,000 families, water authority spokesman John Liarakos said.

 

“We have to do everything we can to preserve whatever water supply we can,” Liarakos said. “Basically, it's saving water so that it's there when we need it.”

 

On a personal level, meeting the water authority's goal could be as easy as fixing a leaky toilet. Or it might include several smaller steps such as taking shorter showers and installing flow restrictors on faucets.

 

“There are ways of saving water ... that don't require you to let everything turn brown and die,” Liarakos said.

 

Water-conservation campaigns are blossoming across California. The state is dealing with a meager Sierra snowpack from last winter, a drought on the Colorado River and unsettled legal issues regarding the use of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

 

In late May, state officials shut down the massive delta pumps that send water south in an effort to protect an endangered fish called smelt. The pumps are slowly returning to full power.

 

The incident raises questions about the delta's reliability as a water source. At the same time, Southern California is increasing its reliance on that area's water supply because of the Colorado River drought.

 

Most reservoirs in Northern California are nearly full, thanks to a bountiful snowpack in the winter of 2005-06.

 

Jeanine Jones, who monitors supplies for the state Department of Water Resources, said California is fortunate that its dry spell followed an extremely wet year.

 

“It's hardly the worst on record,” Jones said of this year.

 

The main fear isn't so much about having enough water to get through this summer. It's more about the prospect that next year will be worse.

 

Barring a very wet winter, California and San Diego County might have to adopt mandatory water-conservation measures and sharply reduce the supply for farmers.

 

The reason for concern is reflected in weather data.

 

The city of San Diego's normal annual precipitation is 10.77 inches. In the past 12 months, the region received 3.85 inches.

 

Statistics are similar across Southern California. Even Death Valley has been drier than usual: It received 1.83 inches in the past year, compared with 2.28 inches normally.

 

Such figures prompted the Metropolitan Water District, the giant wholesaler based in Los Angeles, to launch a $6.3 million conservation campaign. The program encourages a voluntary reduction of 10 percent.

 

The district, whose customers include the San Diego region, is preparing to reduce deliveries to farmers by 30 percent next year if drought conditions continue.

 

Growers are bracing for cuts to begin as soon as January, said Eric Larson, executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau.

 

“It's an attitude of resignation,” Larson said. “Now, it's just a matter of figuring out how they are going to deal with it.”  #

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070628-9999-7m28water.html

 

 

Water authority announces water saving campaign

North County Times – 6/28/07

By William Finn Bennett, staff writer

 

In response to an expected dry summer and uncertainty about future water supplies, San Diego County Water Authority officials are asking residents to reduce their water consumption by about 10 percent.

Officials with the county agency will officially announce today what they are calling the "20-gallon challenge," calling on every resident to reduce by 20 gallons the amount of water they use.

Most people use about 180 gallons a day, an authority spokesman said.

The water agency serves as the wholesale water supplier for 24 member water agencies in the San Diego region.

The water authority appeal follows calls from other water agencies in the state for their customers to reduce their water consumption as the region faces the prospect of future water shortages, an authority spokesman said Wednesday.

The Colorado River provides 60 percent of the region's water supply and is in the throes of an eight-year drought. In addition, the past two years have been two of the driest on record in Southern California and for the Sierra Nevada snowpack, which supplies 40 percent of the region's water needs.

"If we are faced with another dry year or multiple dry years then we are going to have to save as much water in storage as possible," water authority spokesman John Liarakos said Wednesday. "We don't know what is going to happen."

Metropolitan, which supplies much of San Diego County's water, has about 2.5 million acre feet of water stored as a hedge against drought, Liarakos said. But it's expected that the agency will have to begin drawing down on that supply this summer, he added.

An acre-foot is enough water to supply the water needs of two families of four for one year.

Agency officials say that people could save as much as 4.5 gallons of water by running the dishwasher only when it's full, another two gallons by turning off the water while brushing one's teeth and 15 to 50 gallons by washing only full loads of laundry.

So far, no local agency in the state has instituted mandatory conservation of water supplies, Liarakos said.

"But that could happen if there is not enough water to go around," he said. "Think of this as saving for a not rainy day."

The San Diego area is not the only part of the state where water officials are concerned about conserving. Earlier this month Long Beach officials issued an urgent call for residents to cut back on water use, and San Francisco area residents are already conserving.

Also earlier this month, Southern California's main water supplier, the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District voted to approve $6.3 million for a public relations campaign to convince people to save water.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/06/28/news/sandiego/21_11_306_27_07.txt

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