[Water_news] 2. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: SUPPLY - 6/22/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment 

 

June 22, 2007

 

2. Supply –

 

Riverside County leaders say water situation requires conservation now

The Desert Sun – 6/22/07

By Keith Matheny

 

Riverside County's economic future and quality of life are at risk because it's becoming more parched, county leaders said Thursday.

 

"Those are Death Valley numbers," William Patzert, climatologist for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, said of the lack of rain this year in the county and Coachella Valley.

 

"We've been one of the driest areas in the United States."

 

This year will be the driest in the historical record of Southern California, which goes back to the 1870s, Patzert said to more than 800 people at the fourth annual Riverside County Water Symposium.

 

Citing a lasting trend of dry weather in the West, global warming, a shrinking water supply from the Colorado River and continuing population growth, leaders called for water conservation, reminding the region it's a desert.

 

"Our water situation in Riverside County and throughout Southern California has gone from grim to grimmer," county Supervisor Roy Wilson said.

 

The average annual temperature in Southern California has increased about five degrees Fahrenheit in the past 100 years, Patzert said.

 

"If you think it's dry now, definitely tighten your belt because it's going to get dryer," he said.

 

Forecasts of such measures as surface water temperature in the Pacific Ocean indicate the drought will continue, he said.

"What we have going for us here really all depends on water supply, and we know that water supply is shrinking," county Supervisor Marion Ashley said of the county and valley.

 

"Much of our problem is about us," said Celeste Cantú, the general manager of the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority. "We know what the facts are, but it's us that have to change … our behavior."#

http://www.desertsunonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070622/NEWS01/706220373/1006/news01