Still Not Wet Enough

One weekend storm does not break a drought. Unless there are repeated waves of rain and snow in March and April, California faces a fourth consecutive dry year. The most recent rain and snow has helped the state water supply, but not much. Because the weather has been so dry, much of the new moisture has been absorbed into the soil rather than flowing off into reservoirs for storage and use during the hot months of the year.

So far, the area served by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is not expected to suffer severe shortages in 1990. But supplies certainly will be tight. The Met’s buffer has been a surplus on the Colorado River, but this edge pretty much has evaporated because of dry conditions in the Rocky Mountain headwaters and because Arizona now is taking more of its share of the river.

Los Angeles is suffering a double hit this year. The eastern Sierra snowpack is running only about half of normal. Thus, the spring runoff into the Los Angeles Aqueduct is expected to be well below the norm. And the city’s draw on the Mono Lake Basin has been reduced because of environmental considerations. So what does Los Angeles do when its own supply is restricted? It exercises its senior status to call on more water from Metropolitan, spreading Met’s supplies even thinner.

But the greater Los Angeles area is far better off than much of the state. The federal Central Valley Project has notified its 20,000 farm customers that they may get only 50% of their normal water supplies this year. This would force farmers to either pump more ground water, at considerable cost, or forgo planting certain crops. One result is likely to be higher vegetable and fruit prices.

California’s Central Coast is particularly short of water, in part because it does not have an imported supply. Santa Barbara is moving into the second stage of a stringent conservation program, calling for reductions in water use of up to 25%. San Francisco Bay Area water agencies are dusting off their conservation and rationing plans from last year. San Diego has launched an unusual winter conservation program.

Both Metropolitan and the state Department of Water Resources have undertaken innovative measures to increase water storage facilities to help customers get through future droughts. For this dry period, however, the only way to stretch supplies is for Californians to use water more prudently. Now is the time to begin saving with a vengeance.