Local authorities douse drought emergency
Largest water providers lift declarations that mandated restrictions, surcharges
The Bay Area's two largest water providers on April 11 declared an end to the drought that has gripped California for the past three years, setting the stage to halt most mandatory water restrictions and surcharges.
The board of the Santa Clara Valley Water District, a government agency based in San Jose that serves 2 million people, voted 7-0 to rescind an emergency drought declaration that it passed in June 2021.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which provides water to 2.7 million people in San Francisco, the Peninsula and southern Alameda County, also voted April 11 to rescind its emergency drought declaration, and to drop its drought surcharge effective May 1.
The votes are the latest in a trend since Gov. Gavin Newsom on March 24 dropped most statewide drought rules.
Roughly a dozen cities and private companies that buy water from the Santa Clara Valley Water District are expected in the coming weeks to end drought surcharges and penalties that have been in place over the past two years to pressure the public into hitting wateruse targets during the drought, along with lifting other rules, such as limits on watering lawns to two days a week.
Santa Clara Valley Water District board members said, however, that they want to continue to promote water conservation year-round. They asked the agency's staff to come back later this spring with a updated list of conservation programs and incentives, such as continuing rebates for people who buy water-efficient irrigation systems, extending programs that pay $2 per square foot to people who voluntarily remove lawns, and expanding public relations campaigns urging the public to use water wisely.
“We have water. But for how long?” said board chairman John Varela. “There have been droughts in California since the beginning of time. You can almost set your clock that every 5 or 10 years there is going to be a drought.”
The board also voted to change a mandatory 15% call for water conservation compared to 2019 levels to a voluntary call.
Meanwhile, on April 11, the board of the Alameda County Water District, which serves 350,000 residents of Fremont, Union City and Newark, was scheduled to also discuss lifting its drought emergency, and its call for 15% conservation.
In recent weeks, the Contra Costa Water District and East Bay Municipal Utility District also have dropped drought surcharges and eased drought restrictions due to full reservoirs and a huge Sierra Nevada snowpack.
In its action on April 11, the San Francisco PUC kept in place a voluntary request for 11% reduction in water use compared
to 2020 levels. And it dropped a 5% water surcharge.
“Recent storms have made this year one of the wettest on record, and snowpack has reached historic levels,” said Dennis Herrera, SFPUC general manager. “This follows three of the driest years in recorded history. While these storms may have ended the latest drought for much of California, climate change is resulting in weather whiplash. Rapid shifts between extreme weather mean long-term vulnerabilities for our water supply.”
The end of restrictions comes two years after Newsom asked all urban Californians
to cut water use 15% from 2020 levels. They ended up cutting just 6% cumulatively through this February. Residents of Santa Clara County reduced water use 12% over that same time.
“Our community really worked together with us to do a great job conserving water over the last couple of years,” said Santa Clara Valley district board member Barbara Keegan. “We are very fortunate that we have so many civicminded people.”
Newsom did not impose mandatory targets for each city and water agency, as former Gov. Jerry Brown did during the 2012-16 drought when
he achieved a 25% savings goal.
Starting in the winter of 2020, California endured three record-dry years in a row, marked by heat waves, massive wildfires, water restrictions for millions of people and water shortages at farms. A dozen soaking atmospheric river storms, which began shortly after Christmas, ended the drought. The storms filled reservoirs across the state and boosted the Sierra snowpack, the source of 30% of California's water supply, to record levels. On April 11, the statewide Sierra snowpack was 249% of its historical average, with flood concerns looming
in the San Joaquin Valley and other areas.
Groundwater in Santa Clara County is up 25 feet since last year, back to pre-drought levels. And state and federal agencies are promising cities and farmers all the water they want.
Currently, 75% of California is no longer in a drought, including all of the Bay Area, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Some areas near the Oregon border, such as Siskiyou County, or in Southern California communities that are heavily dependent on the water from the overtaxed Colorado River, are still dealing with water shortfalls.