So it begins.
More than 6 million water users (that is, humans) across Southern California woke up on Wednesday to find themselves under new drought restrictions.
If you’ve been following the numbers, none of this should be surprising
Property owners in the Santa Monica Mountains and nearby communities worried about the upcoming mandate severely restricting outdoor water usage were given answers and tips on how to comply at a town hall organized by the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District (LVMWD). Legitimate concerns about brown lawns and brush dry hillsides in fire-prone areas prompted more than 1,000 homeowners to attend LVMWDs virtual meeting May 11.
The Las Virgenes Municipal Water District Board unanimously approved a drought resolution Wednesday that will limit residents outdoor irrigation to one day a week, with the restrictions taking effect June 1.
Last week, LVMWD held a virtual town hall with more than 1,300 people who shared their concerns and feedback with the district’s board of directors.
Steve Bray lives in Monrovia and is already doing what he can to save water. He has installed Wi-Fi-connected sprinklers.
“It can be controlled by an app, but we can only water once a week so I totally turned off my sprinklers,” he said.
The Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District worries state’s historic drought will get worse.
The questions came fast and furious for nearly five hours Wednesday night, offering a glimpse into the world of wealth, worry and water.
“We have a few large koi pond [sic] with over 100 fish,” one person said during an angst-filled town hall meeting of the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District. “Is there a special exemption for them?”
Los Angeles residents now know the plan for significantly cutting water use beginning June 1.
The Department of Water and Power differs in some key ways from other local agencies that are struggling with unprecedented water restrictions due to the drought.
The restrictions, ordered by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, target areas that rely heavily or entirely on the State Water Project, a Northern California water supply that officials say is dangerously low after the state’s driest-ever start to the year.
Millions of Southern Californians will wake up to the region’s most severe water restrictions ever on June 1, with local water agencies under orders to slash the use of supplies from the State Water Project by 35%.
Many water experts say that the cuts are achievable and that reducing outdoor watering to one day a week can help yield immediate savings. At the same time, researchers and water policy experts say, the region needs to adapt to the severe drought because climate change, extreme heat and dwindling snowpack will only serve to exacerbate the issues in years to come
Ventura has struck a 20-year deal with a Riverside County water wholesaler that would save the city millions of dollars in costs to maintain its rights to imported state water.
Under the agreement approved last month, the city would lease its share of imported water to the San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency in Beaumont, an arrangement that would reap $1.1 million this year and cover nearly half of the $2.27 million it will owe to keep its state water entitlement. San Gorgonio would increase its share of the costs starting next year.
At a point in the year when California’s water storage should be at its highest, the state’s two largest reservoirs have already dropped to critically low levels — a sobering outlook for the hotter and drier months ahead.
Shasta Lake, which rises more than 1,000 feet above sea level when filled to the brim, is at less than half of where it usually should be in early May — the driest it has been at this time of year since record-keeping first began in 1976. Lake Oroville, the largest reservoir in the State Water Project, a roughly 700-mile lifeline that pumps and ferries water all the way to Southern California, is currently at 55% of total capacity.
More than a week after the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California announced its harshest-ever water restrictions for millions of residents across the region, several of the affected water agencies are offering a preview of how life will change throughout Southland when the rules kick in June 1.
The restrictions target areas that rely heavily or entirely on the State Water Project, a Northern California water supply that officials say is dangerously low after the state’s driest-ever start to the year.
