[Water_news] 1. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS - Top Item for 10/21/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

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

 

October 21, 2008

 

1.  Top Items -

 

 

REGION: State reservoirs at lowest level since 1994

Local officials say rationing could come early next year

North County Times – 10/20/08

By DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer

 

The amount of water being stored in California reservoirs is at its lowest point in 14 years, underscoring the severity of a worsening drought that could prompt providers to order rationing in San Diego and Riverside counties as early as January.

Steve Nemeth, who tracks storage levels for the state Department of Water Resources in Sacramento, said Friday that 15.84 million acre-feet of water was sitting in 150 reservoirs spread throughout the state at the end of last month.

Nemeth said the last time the total was that low was in September 1994, when reservoirs collectively held 15.76 million acre-feet.

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

Officials say the steep decline is the result of a string of dry winters in the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains, the state's two major water sources. And it didn't help that a federal court last year ordered a sharp reduction in deliveries to Southern California from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to prevent the slaughter of tiny fish called delta smelt.

The shaky condition of Southern California's lifeline is dramatically illustrated by the retreating shorelines of North County's Lake Henshaw, which is barely half full, and giant Diamond Valley Lake in Southwest Riverside County, which is 59 percent full.

Diamond Valley, the region's insurance policy against drought, has developed so many bathtub rings and dropped so far the boat ramp there no longer touches the water and was closed last week.

"This action speaks volumes about the seriousness of the water-supply situation Southern California faces next year," said Jeff Kightlinger, general manager for Metropolitan Water District, the region's largest water supplier and the lake owner, in a statement.

John Liarakos, a spokesman for the San Diego County Water Authority, which buys water from Metropolitan and distributes it to local districts and cities, said there is a strong possibility supplies will be rationed in the first part of 2009, perhaps by January.

The last year San Diego County residents faced mandatory water rationing was 1991.

The drought has persisted most of this decade, gradually drawing down reservoirs throughout the state and across the Southwest.

Indeed, the Colorado River reservoir system currently stands at 57 percent, said Colleen Dwyer, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in Boulder City, Nev. That's better than the record low of 50 percent in October 2004, but well below the more consistent levels of the 1970s, '80s and '90s, Dwyer said.

"Lake Powell is approximately 26 feet higher than it was at this time last year," she said. "Lake Mead, unfortunately, has dropped 5 feet from this time last year."

Long before this time next year, residents may have no choice but to use less water for drinking, showering and watering lawns.#

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/10/20/news/sandiego/zd10d032430ea106c882574e5005f0d10.txt

 

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