"The Worst CA Drought in Modern History"

The Worst CA Drought in Modern History"
New snow survey: 49% of normal in northern Sierra

SACRAMENTO, CA - The California Department of Water Resources' (DWR) second snow survey of the winter season indicates snow water content is 61 percent of normal to date, statewide, and only 49 percent of normal, to date, in the northern Sierra Nevada. “The low precipitation in January and snowpack results from today’s survey indicate California is heading for a third dry year,” said DWR Director Lester Snow. “We may be at the start of the worst California drought in modern history. It’s imperative for Californians to conserve water immediately at home and in their businesses.”

Long Beach Water officials, earlier this month, issued a new water supply ALERT for the City of Long Beach and southern California, due to extremely weak precipitation and snow pack in the northern Sierra Nevada; an uneventful forecast for northern California watersheds, including new predictions of dry La Nina conditions forming in the Pacific Ocean; extremely low water supply reserve levels; and the anticipated additional curtailment of imported water deliveries from north to south due to endangered species issues. Today's survey likely means that water deliveries for the Bay Area, Central Valley and southern California will likely be reduced even further in 2009, according to Kevin Wattier, General Manager of Long Beach Water. "State water deliveries into southern California could likely be reduced by more than 90 percent if current conditions persist; the snow season will be over in 60 days."

Long Beach residents are being urged to sustain the City's record breaking reductions in water use, which is 15 percent below the City's historical 10-year average for the Fiscal Year started in October 2008. More importantly, Long Beach Water officials are calling on area cities to engage their residents. "These realities should be a catalyst for southern California water supply managers to immediately increase action on extraordinary conservation measures," stated John Allen, President of the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners. "Southern California water suppliers should be practicing for the worst; hope is not an adequate strategy here."

Background:

Precipitation and snow pack for the northern Sierra Nevada, the primary water supply source for the Bay Delta watershed from which southern California receives 30 percent of its imported water, is way below normal for the year. The most recent snow survey, announced today, showed that northern Sierra snowpack was only 49 percent of normal for the year.

Compounding the necessity to conserve, in early December, federal wildlife officials released ADDITIONAL restrictions on pumping from northern California. Last year, restrictions were placed on pumping water through the Bay Delta to mitigate the impact that pumping was having on the Delta Smelt, an endangered fish. A new biological opinion, released on December 15, 2008, supports continuing current pumping restrictions, which have resulted in a 20 to 30 percent reduction in water deliveries, but also adopts ADDITIONAL pumping restrictions that the agency believes will help improve Delta Smelt habitat. These additional restrictions could in some years cut imported water deliveries to the Central Valley and southern California by half, which is a worst case scenario, but entirely feasible. Scientists say that the decline of smelt populations are an indicator of the health of the entire Bay-Delta ecosystem, and representative of a much larger decline in local fisheries, including the longfin smelt, threadfin shad, and Chinook salmon. The National Marine Fisheries Service is scheduled to issue a new biological opinion in the coming weeks to protect the Chinook salmon, following last years collapse of the west coast salmon fishing season, and the long-fin smelt is being recommended for the endangered species list by the California Department of Fish and Game.

Even more, the collective storage level of Lake Shasta, Lake Oroville and San Luis Reservoir, the feeders to the State Water Project, are the lowest they've been since 1977. This is a primary reason for the State Department of Water Resources' recent announcement that water deliveries from northern California to the Central Valley, and on to southern California, may be 85 percent below what is being requested for these regions this year. Today's snow survey will likely move that percentage higher.

On September 13, 2007, the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners issued a Declaration of Imminent Water Supply Shortage and activated the City's Emergency Water Supply Shortage Plan. As a result, the Board of Water Commissioners issued mandatory prohibitions on certain outdoor uses of water. "The Board took the action it did, over a year ago now, to forestall and lessen the impact of an expected water supply shortage," according to Board president, John Allen. The Board's Declaration in 2007 was necessitated by the profound impact of permanent reductions to imported water deliveries into southern California; the dramatic reductions in water storage levels in key reservoirs in northern California; and climate realities.

The Long Beach Water Department is an urban, southern California retail water supply agency, and the standard in water conservation and environmental stewardship.