State regulators say Californians are not doing enough to conserve water and warn of mandatory water restrictions to come.
“There’s no set sort of ‘trigger date’ for considering mandatory conservation, but we’ll be watching it closely,” Wade Crowfoot, natural resources secretary, said.
Crowfoot said hot and dry conditions throughout 2021 have left the state’s reservoirs immeasurably dry, with 80 percent of their water either evaporated or absorbed into the parched soil.
Gov. Gavin Newsom had the same message to Californians over the summer: it is time to cut back.
“To meet this urgent challenge we must all pull together and do our part to reduce water use as California continues to build a more climate resilient water system to safeguard the future of our state,” Newsom said in a July statement.
Newsom signed executive order N-10-21 to call on all Californians to voluntarily reduce water use by 15 percent compared to 2020 levels. The governor suggested reducing landscape irrigation, running dishwashers and washing machines only when full, fixing leaks, taking shorter showers and installing water-efficient showerheads.
Water usage has dropped less than two percent since the governor’s request, according to Crowfoot. He said he knows people can do more, because he’s seen it before.
“Regular Californians were the heroes of the last drought,” Crowfoot said. “And during the last drought California communities reduced their water usage by over 20 percent.”
California reservoirs, explained
Water from the rainy and snowy months is stored in the state's system of reservoirs, according to the Associated Press. During the summer months, when water is more scarce, regulators release water for drinking, farming and environmental purposes.
This year, unusually hot, dry conditions caused nearly 80 percent of that water to either evaporate or be absorbed into the parched soil, the AP reported, and state officials are now reporting that reservoirs are at their lowest level ever.
Thursday, Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth said the agency is preparing for what would be its first ever 0% allocation because of the dry conditions.
“It’s a done deal, we’re sure that we will get a zero,” said Demetri Polyzos, manager of resource planning for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California that provides water for about 19 million people. “These are uncharted territories, what we are seeing.”
Much of California remains under “extreme drought” or “exceptional drought” conditions, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Areas under D3, extreme drought, make up 42.2 percent of the state, with 45.6 percent under the D4 wing, exceptional drought. Both groups have tripled in just one year. The Drought Monitor estimates at least 37.2 million Californians are living in drought areas.
Crowfoot said aside from Californians cutting back, this year’s fall/winter rain and snow levels will play a big role in recouping available water.
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