Snow levels indicate Californians should conserve water now
“I have spoken of the rich years when the rainfall was plentiful. But there were dry years too, and they put a terror on the valley. … And it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry years. It was always that way.”
— John Steinbeck,
“East of Eden”
California shouldn’t wait another day to implement water conservation measures to counteract the likelihood of drought this year.
The state Department of Water Resources reported Tuesday that the Sierra Nevada snowpack was just 61% of its historical average for this date.
“Absent a series of strong storms in March or April, we are going to end with a critically dry year on the heels of last year’s dry conditions,” said Karla Nemeth, director of the state DWR.
California’s rainy season typically ends with the beginning of April, and most Bay Area cities thus far have received only about 40% of their normal rainfall.
With no major storms on the horizon, it makes no sense for Californians to continue wasting their limited water supply. We should all be taking shorter showers and reducing landscape watering.
Yet Santa Clara Valley Water District and East Bay Municipal Utility District officials told the Bay Area News Group on Tuesday that they will wait for weeks before deciding whether to impose voluntary or mandatory water restrictions on the 3.4 million people they serve.
And California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been mum on the subject, perhaps not wanting to impose more restrictions on pandemic-weary Californians as he faces a possible recall vote later this year.
The issue is compounded by the 12-year failure to develop a viable plan to meet the state’s long-term water supply needs. California could have been investing billions in a comprehensive water plan that would increase water supply through storage, recycling and conservation.
Instead, Govs. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jerry Brown and Newsom have put their energy into misguided planning for a Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta tunnel project that wouldn’t add a drop of water to California’s supply and doesn’t pencil out.
Nor would it protect the health of the Delta, which provides water to some 27 million Californians and 3 million acres of irrigated farmland.
The Sierra snowpack melts during the spring months, sending water to the Delta and California’s reservoirs. San Luis Reservoir, near the intersection of Highway 152 and Interstate 5, is 58% full, or 68% of its historical average at this time of year. Shasta Lake, the state’s largest reservoir, is 50% full, or 68% of its historical average.
From 2012 to 2016, California endured the driest fouryear period of any time back to 1895.
If the state learned anything from that experience, it’s that Californians shouldn’t wait to adopt water conservation methods until we’ve reached a state of emergency.
If the governor and water district officials won’t call on us to cut back on our water use, Californians should take it upon themselves to start conserving.
All signs point to the likelihood of another California drought. Every drop of water wasted today is water that will be unavailable in the months ahead.