KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
As the California drought continues despite recent rainfall, water agencies in the Santa Clarita Valley say that conservation is still essential and the drought is far from over.
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Snowpack through January was “trending at 115 percent of normal,” but since February was dryer than usual, currently water inflow is about average, according to Mike Alvord, assistant general manager at Newhall County Water District.
“Just because we have had rain and snowpack, it doesn’t mean we should stop conserving,” Alvord said.
In June 2015 Newhall County Water District set a goal of 28 percent water reduction, and on average has been able to reduce usage by 30 percent, Alvord said.
Half of all the water that reaches the Santa Clarita Valley comes from snowpack in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, while the other half comes from groundwater, according to Mark Dirks, Water Resources Manager at Castaic Lake Water Agency.
“It’s going to take more than one wet year to haul us out of the drought,” said Dirks. “Several years of above average precipitation are necessary for the drought to end.”
Lake Oroville, which is a key reservoir in the State Water Project for storing melted snowpack, is at 49 percent capacity, according to the California Department of Water Resources.
“It’s time to consider doing more, such as replacing your lawn with drought-tolerant plants and using drip irrigation rather than spray irrigation. We all need to do more during this time of drought,” said Dirks.
Related: Through Heavy Rain And Thunderstorms In Santa Clarita, Drought Continues
The California Irrigation Management Information System recorded a mere 0.27 inches of rainfall in the Santa Clarita Valley on Wednesday, a reminder that one day of rain does not necessarily have significant effects on drought conditions.
“The community has done very well with a 40 percent reduction in the summer,” said Ken Peterson, General Manager of Valencia Water Company. “Officially though, the drought is still on.”
On Feb. 2, the State Water Resources Board extended and revised emergency regulations to ensure that urban water conservation continues.
The revised regulations take effect in March 2016 and continue through October 2016.
Water agencies within the Santa Clarita Valley — including Newhall County Water District, Castaic Lake Water Agency, Valencia Water Company, Santa Clarita Water Division and L.A County Waterworks District No. 36 — have been able to collectively reduce water use by an average of 29 percent, meeting Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr’s mandatory 25 percent reduction, according to Alvord.
As of March 2015, the following restrictions have been mandated in the Santa Clarita Valley:
- No washing down sidewalk and driveways.
- No watering outdoor landscapes in a manner that causes excess runoff.
- No washing a motor vehicle with a hose, unless the hose is fitted with a shut off nozzle.
- No operating a fountain or decorative water feature, unless the water is part of a recirculating system.
- No irrigating turf or ornamental landscapes during, and 48 hours following, measurable precipitation.
- Restaurants and other food service establishments may only serve water to customers on request.
- Hotel and motel operators must provide guests with the option of choosing not to have towels and linens laundered daily.
It is still amazing. It’s going to be no matter how much water we do get it will never be enough because the new home projects bringing more people in will never allow us to get caught up. If we continue to give large scale projects permits to build and all the people come, well saving as much water as we can will never be enough. If you are really concerned about saving water scale down the permits allowing new home building.
Hear.Hear!!!
Lisa is right. We will NEVER have enough water as long as the people that are in control of our city continue to build all these high density home projects around our valley.
We are saving water not for us but for the developers so they can build more homes. Lowering our usage per home will actually hurt us in the long run. It will snow that each home requires less water and that will justify the building of more homes.
What we really need to do is to stop all the building until we find a way to provide water for the people who are here NOW. We can’t depend on imported water. The State Water Project that brings imported water to us was intended to accommodate 16 million users; now it is accommodating 40 million” . “The whole system has been stretched to the max.”
We need to stop the Newhall Ranch Project that will take our limited ground water supply to feed over 26000 homes. How crazy are these people in power to allow this. They are crooks in the pockets of the developers making shady deals behind closed doors.
Remember, elections will be here soon and we will be able to replace at least one of the career City Council members who put the new One Valley One Vision General Plan into place that allows our population to more than double with high density housing. In the next round we can replace the remaining two career council members that are responsible.
We also must stop the consolidation of the local water companies by the Castaic Lake Water Agency. The Agency is now going after the Newhall Water Company so they can provide our ground water to the 30000 home Newhall Ranch Project. Pay attention people. Keep informed and take action to prevent more building like the Newhall Ranch and Vista Ranch Project. Attend City Council Meetings. Ask them what they are going to do about our water problem.
I understand the need for conservation so why isn’t t there a moratorium on building new homes. Where is that water coming from?
Conservation and the moratorium on new homes are great ideas given our current condition. But how about just be grateful for what rainfall / water we did get and let Mother Nature take care of the rest.
More water storage, less high speed rail.
Residential water usage in the state of California amounts to 10% of total water usage. Why doesn’t big agriculture scale back on exporting massive amounts of produce and cut back water usage. They are the biggest waters of water with their antiquated ittigation tecniques and city dwellers are forced to subsidize them. A bunch of BALONEY.
I agree that we all need to save water. I think that we need to address those that are not saving water. Why do we continue to allow homeowners to put in new sod. How much water does it take to get a new lawn established. I took out my lawn in the backyard and have a huge dirt area where I once had a lush green lawn. My family has done our part I am tired of being asked to do more when I see new lawns and green grass everywhere. How many HOA’s have removed grass. We need to get those that are wasting the water to start saving!!!!
I want to move to California
Folks, as usual, it’s all about money. New development means a bigger tax base and infrastructure expansion/improvement from developer exactions. To heck with the water. We’ll consider that when we have an unsolvable crisis.