Register Today for SCWC’s Quarterly Luncheon
RSVP today for SCWC’s first Quarterly Meeting of 2016, which will be held in Riverside on January 22. The event is generously co-sponsored by the Western Municipal Water District and will convene regional and local water officials to discuss Southern California’s water future and drought proofing strategies. Special thanks to additional sponsors: Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District, Best Best & Krieger, Kriegar & Stewart and San Bernardino Municipal Water District!
Event Details:
Western Municipal Water District
14205 Meridian Pkwy, Riverside, CA 92508
12:00 – 2:00pm
Tickets: $70/per person
RSVP at: www.socalwater.org/events-and-calendar/event-registration
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE.
Please contact Cindy Northcote-Smith at 818.760.2121 or cnorthcote-smith@socalwater.org for more information.
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CA WaterFix Fact Sheets Detail Progress, Purpose & Project Improvements
CA WaterFix released new informational materials focusing on the project’s progress, purpose and project improvements. This past year, Governor Brown’s CA WaterFix has made significant progress in modernizing the state’s water delivery system and creating a more secure water supply for 26 million Californians. The fact sheet, “Progress Continues in Securing Water Supplies and Protecting the Delta’s Ecosystem,” reviews the development of the project over the last year and includes a snapshot of major milestones.
Additional fact sheets detail the relationship of CA WaterFix to the State Water Project and Central Valley Project in “History of Water Project Conveyance in the Delta,” and compares the project’s improvements compared to previous efforts in the fact sheet “A 21st Century Approach.”
To learn more about CA WaterFix, click here.
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LA Daily News: California needs an ‘all of the above’ solution for water
In the Los Angeles Daily News opinion editorial, “California needs an ‘all of the above’ solution for water,” Randy Record, chairman of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Board of Directors, discusses the importance of using a comprehensive approach to our water future. Record suggests two strategies to secure our region’s water supply:
1.Lower demand by conserving water, freeing up supplies to be put in reserve that otherwise would be consumed.
2.Increase local supplies, so that some imported supplies can be directed into storage.
Below is an excerpt from the article:
“Does Southern California truly have to take such a disparate set of actions to maintain a reliable water system? Yes. Even with investments to shore up the reliability of supplies from Northern California and the Colorado River, these supplies will have their limits so innovation, new water resources and more conservation are needed. Future droughts may be longer. The future weather may be hotter. And the region continues to grow. There is no single solution to this set of challenges. But by continuing to invest in actions on many fronts, Southern California’s history of safe and reliable water can continue into the future.”
Click here to read the full LA Daily News op-ed.
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State’s Cumulative Water Savings Continue to Meet Ongoing Conservation Mandate
For June to November, the cumulative statewide reduction was 26.3 percent, meeting Governor Jerry Brown’s 25 percent conservation mandate. That equates to over 1 million acre-feet, putting the state more than 80 percent of the way to meeting the 1.2 million acre-feet savings goal by February 2016.
Despite a decline in the statewide water-savings rate for the last two months, average statewide water use declined from 87 gallons per person per day in October to 75 in November.
“We expected the percentage drop in the cooler fall and winter months when we use less water in general so we are still on track,” said Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board. “The fact that per person water use dropped to 75 gallons per person per day on average is proof that Californians are clearly thinking twice before turning on the tap. As welcome as recent rain and snow are, we’ve been in such a deep drought that we won’t know until spring whether we can let up on conservation.”
Officials are urging residents to keep up their efforts to conserve through the winter months. That includes complying with urban water suppliers’ instructions to switch to fall watering schedules of once a week as well as adhere to the ban against watering when it rains and for 48 hours directly following it.
To read SWRCB’s press release, click here.
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ICYMI: Drought Still Remains Despite Higher-Than-Average Water Content in Snowpack
The latest results from the Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) first manual snow surveyfound higher-than average water content in the statewide snowpack at 136 percent of average for this time of year. While these result are encouraging, officials warn the drought is far from over and conservation “remains California’s most reliable drought management tool.”
Despite recent storms many of the state’s reservoirs remain well below average. The snowpack supply normally provides 30 percent of the state’s fresh water, and the Sierra Nevada Mountains snowmelt and storm runoff is captured in reservoirs to be released later in the year.
Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program, stated: “More than four years of drought have left a water deficit around the state that may be difficult to overcome in just one winter season.”
“Clearly, this is much better that it was last year at this time, but we haven’t had the full effect of the El Niño yet,” Gehrke said. “If we believe the forecasts, then El Niño is supposed to kick in as we move through the rest of the winter. That will be critical when it comes to looking at reservoir storage.”
To read DWR’s press release in full, click here.
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Lawn Dude’s Conservation Column: 2016 Resolutions|
Hello water peeps, Lawn Dude here. A new year means new resolutions – even though mine haven’t changed in about five years due to the drought. This year, I’m choosing to lead by example and share my resolutions for 2016 with all of you:
1. Drink less
2. Manscape more
Just because El Niño is here storming away, doesn’t mean conservation efforts should be put on the backburner. Make sure to turn your sprinkles off when it’s raining and up to 48 hours after a storm, and to only let your lawns drink once a week. If anything, conservations efforts like mine will beat the drought…not El Niño.