1 in 5 Already Feeling Pinch of the Drought

Drought has imposed water restrictions on one in five California residents, mostly in the northern and central part of the state, and on 16% of the state’s irrigated agriculture, state officials reported Thursday.

The state Department of Water Resources said conditions do not match the severity of the historic 1976-77 drought, but they have caused 12 counties to declare local emergencies and 33 counties to seek federal aid for ranchers.

“California’s water supply is significantly below normal in most areas and critical in a few,” the department noted in the first of what is planned to be a series of monthly reports on the drought in California.

Dry conditions also hurt non-farming segments of the economy, from forests devastated by fire and insect infestation to utilities unable to provide inexpensive hydroelectric energy at a time of high hot-weather demand.

The drought “is creating hardships for people, costing money and causing damage to natural resources,” said Suzanne G. Butterfield, state drought coordinator. “Negative economic impacts . . . are affecting homeowners, manufacturing industries, the landscape and agricultural industries.”

Recreation also is being hurt, with low river flows resulting in high water temperatures that kill young fish. Low flows also cut short the rafting season and have left many lakes and reservoirs at below-normal levels.

Half the Usual Runoff

Runoff in the critical Sacramento River basin, where California has most of its major reservoirs, was half the usual total from October through May. Early detection of low snowpacks, however, gave officials time to manage the runoff, and water stored in major reservoirs ranges from 64.7% to 74.1% of normal.

This is better than conditions during the severe drought of the mid-1970s, but the current two-year shortfall still worries water managers, who must cope with random shortages while maintaining a reserve in anticipation of a possible third consecutive year of drought ahead.

As in the past, drought woes are unequally distributed. Southern California has hardly been affected, but 17 California counties, mostly in the central part of the state, report losing at least 25% of their water supply. Los Angeles has escaped rationing.