News

Strong Start to State’s Rainy Season May Soon Fade

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. (March 14, 2011) - After a promising start that brought several straight weeks of heavy rain to South Orange County, the second half of California’s rainy season is predicted to turn dry, prompting Governor Brown to maintain California’s state of drought emergency.

In early February, the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada Mountains was 199 percent of normal, compared to just 81 percent of normal at that time last year. The welcomed precipitation helped temporarily double the volumes of several key reservoirs in Northern California, which provide water to the southern portion of the state. But a lot of the precipitation merely returned those parched reservoirs to normal levels. Plus, the water in those reservoirs isn’t guaranteed to reach the customers who need it due to court rulings and pumping restrictions that limit the amount of water that can be delivered to Southern California to protect habitat and fish species in the Sacramento Delta.

Even with California’s rain, years of drought in the Upper Colorado River Basin continue to threaten a valuable component of our supply. These factors mean we must continue to be as efficient as possible and make every drop count to meet our needs now and in the years to come.

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