Despite low reservoirs, no drought emergency in Lodi — yet

As Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a water emergency in two coastal counties Wednesday, an East Bay Municipal Utilities District spokesperson said water supplies for its customers are on the cusp of shortage.

“Right now, if you look at our water supply, we’re on the edge of a water shortage emergency,” spokeswoman Andrea Pook said on Wednesday. “We’re straddling the line, and that’s something our board will be reviewing next week.”

The agency controls the Pardee and Camanche reservoirs, which supply water to the Mokelumne River, and both have seen minimal level declines in the last week.

However, both are not at full capacity.

Camanche Reservoir was 55% full Tuesday with just 230,500 acre feet of water, or 75.1 trillion gallons, while Pardee Reservoir was 89% full with 181,580 acre feet of water, or nearly 59.2 trillion gallons.

New Hogan Lake in Calaveras County, which is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and serves Stockton and parts of San Joaquin County, was at 48% capacity with 150,840 acre feet of water, or 49.1 trillion gallons.

Charlie Swimley, City of Lodi’s Public Works director, said if the governor were to declare a water emergency affecting the county, staff would initiate the appropriate stages of the city’s water shortage contingency plan.

“While we are always concerned with long periods of dry weather, at this time we do not expect any surface water curtailments from WID, and I would be surprised if the governor declared a water emergency specific to San Joaquin County,” Swimley said.

According to AccuWeather.com, rain is expected in the Lodi area on Sunday and Monday, but it is only expected to be .08 of an inch, not enough to make a dent in the dry weather. It’s not forecast to rain again in the area until June..

On Wednesday, Newsom declared drought emergencies in Sonoma and Mendocino counties, but refused to declare a statewide drought even though he acknowledged California was “in the second year of

these drought conditions.”

Members of his administration have said a statewide declaration is more likely to happen in 2022 if a third dry winter occurs.

“I anticipate being strategic and targeted in terms of the formal emergency declarations as needed,” he said during a press conference at Lake Mendocino in Ukiah.

“We’ll be strategic based on conditions as they take place,” he said. “As it relates to a statewide order, we have certainly gamed that out, but right now, we’re not prepared to advance a statewide order.” According to

a website that maps drought conditions, much of California’s Central Valley is under severe drought conditions as of April 15, along with Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

Several Northern California counties such as Yolo, Colusa, Napa, Modoc and Lassen are under extreme drought conditions, as are parts of Fresno, Inyo and San Bernadino counties.

Parts of Inyo and San Bernadino counties along the California-Nevada border are under exceptional drought conditions.

The San Mateo Peninsula, South Bay and Central Coast are under moderate drought conditions.

The last time EBMUD was under a water emergency was 2014-2016.

During that drought, water flow to WID was cut from 60,000 acre-feet to 39,000.

In turn, the City of Lodi’s allotment from WID was cut from 6,000 acre-feet to 3,500.

Prior to 2014, water flow had not been cut to the region since 1976.

The EBMUD board of directors is scheduled to meet at 1:15 p.m. Tuesday via Zoom to discuss its water supply. For more information, visit