The change is thanks to a relatively wet El Niño winter, which, despite falling short of the rainfall levels anticipated, did supply enough water to partially replenish Northern California’s reservoirs. But a climate manager on the water board warns this is still just a trial run, with the National Drought Mitigation Center noting in the Sacramento Bee that 70% of the state is still in “severe”, “extreme”, or “exceptional” drought.
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Southern California, however, remains deep in drought.
Without continued mandatory conservation measures, California will not get rid of the deficit and secure its water supply, but will instead place the state in a very vulnerable supply position going into a predicated dry La Niña year. “But now we know that drought is becoming a regular occurrence and water conservation must be a part of our everyday life”. “Reservoirs are full, and normal water year conditions prevail on Lagunitas Creek and the Russian River”. But she’d rather see local officials – who have encouraged homeowners to report water waste and offered drought-related education classes – make the final call on how much needs to be conserved. Its a reprieve though, not a hall pass, for much if not all of California. In response, water regulators released the proposal approved Wednesday, which eliminates the cutbacks at least for the rest of this year, while they develop a longer term strategy to cut water use in the most populous USA state.
“We’re no longer calling for the sacrifices we did in recent years, but we are asking people to continue using water wisely”, said Board President Lisa Borba.
Environmentalists have urged state regulators not to let up on conservation, citing forecasts that indicate the possibility of a dry winter ahead. “There’s lots of unhappy people since the drought went into effect”.
Following similar steps recently taken by other agencies, the Contra Costa Water District’s leaders voted Wednesday to reverse most of its water-use restrictions and its drought charge.
Several groups, such as the Natural Resources Defense Council and the California Coastkeeper Alliance, voiced concerns about relaxing the conservation standards and moving to voluntary, self-set goals.
His clients have had to choose between keeping their lawns green at the expense of huge water bills or turn down their sprinklers and watch their yard turn brown.
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“Either way they’re unhappy”, said Gritters, owner of Vintage Landscape in the Coachella Valley. News stories displayed here appear in our category for General and are licensed via a specific agreement between LongIsland.com and The Associated Press, the world’s oldest and largest news organization. For the protection of AP and its licensors, content may not be copied, altered or redistributed in any form. Doing so may result in civil and/or criminal penalties.
