Water Rationing
It looks like we’re in for some water rationing in the East Bay. Reservoirs are moderate, but it seems that erratic rainfall has made the water board worried about 2 bad years in a row on water levels. They’re considering restrictions and rationing this summer. From the SF Chronicle.
EBMUD… said that although January and February were wet months, March was the second driest March in the district’s 85-year history and April is the driest to date.
That means the Sierra snowpack, which melts into the Pardee Reservoir where 90 percent of EBMUD water comes from, is yielding half its normal runoff….
More from the Chronicle
“All the research around the impact of climate change in California shows potential prolonged droughts, drier winters, more wild swings between drier years and wet years,” said Tony Winnicker, spokesman for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which provides water to residents of the city as well as communities on the Peninsula. “As water agencies and as consumers, we need to manage our water more wisely. There will never again be a period in California where we don’t have to think about water conservation.”
Winnicker and officials from 10 other regional water agencies met Wednesday to renew a campaign urging consumers to use less water. The meeting came one day after the East Bay Municipal Utility District, which provides water to 1.3 million customers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, announced that its board is examining mandatory water restrictions, price increases and even water allotments in an effort to stretch its dwindling supply.
This is sounding like serious stuff. We’ve already had customers (yesterday) mention changing over to low-water gardens because of this.
