The City of Santa Maria is providing all of its customers with groundwater supplies, due to the drought. The City says it’s meeting all drinking water standards, but customers may notice a difference in the water due to the increased hardness and mineral content. The exclusive use of local groundwater will continue through May, and the City anticipates again relying solely on the groundwater basin for November and December.
As drought conditions worsen across Northern California, the Marin Municipal Water District is about to become the Bay Area’s first major water agency to make the leap to mandatory water restrictions.
The utility is expected to adopt a plan Tuesday that would require nearly 200,000 residents of southern and central Marin County to limit outdoor watering to one day a week as well as to stop washing their cars, refilling their swimming pools and power-washing their homes, among other things. Offenders could face fines of up to $250.
Sunday marked the hottest day of the year, so far. Many people made their way to Folsom Lake to enjoy the weather to find lake levels low as the state faces the threat of a drought. After two dry years in a row with little rain and snow, drought is a concern. Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he has executive orders drafted, if needed.
California is nearing the end of the rainy season. Most of California’s rainfall tends to be between November to April. And so far this year has fallen below average. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, most of the Central Coast is around 50% of the rainfall we’d normally expect. The highest rain total is near Cachuma Dam at 60%. While the lowest is near Santa Barbara Airport at 46%. San Luis Obispo is in the middle at 54%.
There are a number of factors to consider when declaring a state of emergency. After a dry water year, little to zero water allocations, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack declaring drought conditions in counties up and down the state and even the entire republican delegation sending letters Governor Gavin Newsom, Congressman Jim Costa said declaring drought can be tricky.
At the Solvang City Council meeting last Monday, the council members approved a resolution to ask neighbors to voluntarily cut back on their water intake by 15%.
They also voted to impose mandatory restrictions and spend $400 thousand on supplemental water.
Solvang declared a stage one drought `condition as Santa Barbara County faces a moderate drought that is getting worse.
California has entered another drought.
But depending on who you ask, the last one may have never really ended.
Some researchers believe the region is actually more than two decades into an emerging “megadrought” — a hydrological event that is on par with the worst dry spells of the past millennium. Except this time, they say, human-caused climate change is driving its severity — and will make it that much harder to climb back out of.
California is once again into a critically dry year with memories of the last drought all too fresh. Scientists warn that “boom or bust” water years are the new normal, and we all knew we’d be back here again. The question is, what have we learned and what have we done about it?
Stop if you’ve heard this before: California is in the grip of a severe drought. Again. Now the federal government is stepping in to help. To assist California, which is the nation’s largest food supplier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently declared a drought disaster for 50 counties. That makes growers throughout the state who have been struggling with parched conditions eligible to seek federal loans.
Moisture content in vegetation is typically not something Cal Fire has to pay attention to until May or June. This is not a typical year. The United States Forest Service already checked fuels in the Sierra Nevada Foothills in eastern Fresno County on April 1 because of abnormally dry conditions confronting the state. Also atypical — Cal Fire is bringing in additional personnel this week to have more fire engines staffed by week’s end.
