The Doldrums Of Drought: Water Managers, County Wrangle Over Lake Cachuma Supply
Where are the rains of yesteryear? The wet winter of 2017 is a distant memory as the county, like a thirsty desert survivor, staggers into its eighth year of drought. As of this month, the water level at Lake Cachuma, once the main water supply for the Carpinteria Valley, Montecito, Santa Barbara, and the Goleta and Santa Ynez valleys, has dropped back to 31 percent of capacity, a mark the reservoir hit in October 2014, on the way down to a record low of 7 percent in October 2016.
