After years of extreme drought and dismal snowpack, California has had a remarkably wet winter and is now veering into record-setting territory for snowfall.
As of Friday, the snowpack in the southern Sierra Nevada was at 286% of normal — the highest figure ever, easily eclipsing the region’s benchmark of 263% set in 1969.
Manteca’s per capita water use surged 14.6 percent in March as the city’s consumption continued to grow significantly over 2020 even after making adjustments for population gain.
The double-digit gain in year-to-year use comes nine months after Governor Gavin Newsom asked Californians to voluntarily cut water usage by 15 percent based on 2020 consumption levels. So far water use on average in California jurisdictions is down by 6 percent although Manteca clearly isn’t one of them.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
