Published in the December 10-23, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Dennis Kennedy
Dennis Kennedy
As the skies begin to open up and bless us with some rain, the reality is that our water supplies are so depleted that even a normal rain year will not be enough to end our local drought conditions. So we will all need to continue the water saving practices we have started. If it’s another dry year, we will need to save even more.
While most of our annual rainfall comes in the winter months, we’ve had a bit of rain recently. On Nov. 1, our rain gauge in downtown San Jose registered .91 inches since July 1. The season average in that spot is 14.3 inches. We have a long way to go to even reach a normal level of rain.
The cooler temperatures and shorter days that come in winter are enough, however, for most people to cut down on outdoor watering; your irrigation should be cut to one third of its summer schedule. By winter, you should shut down all irrigation until spring.
While we have regionally achieved a 12 percent reduction in water use this year, the result of not reaching our 20 percent water reduction target in 2014 is that our groundwater storage is being depleted. Due to our comprehensive water supply planning efforts, we started 2014 with groundwater storage in the normal range, even as we were experiencing a third very dry year. The beginning of 2015 will not be so rosy. While we started 2014 with about 340,000 acre-feet of stored groundwater (about a year’s supply), 2015 will likely begin with less than 250,000 acre-feet. This takes us into the “severe” stage, the third stage in our five-stage water storage contingency plan.
One disturbing comment I’ve heard more than once, is: “I don’t need to conserve, I’m on a well!” The reality is that even though a resident may be on a well, the groundwater levels are dropping, in some places as much as 30 feet. Let’s not fall into the trap of feeling that because you can’t see the water table, you don’t need to conserve. The district has recharged our aquifers with very precious imported water in most cases and if it’s wasted, we may not be able to replenish it.
The statewide picture is no more encouraging. Jeanine Jones, interstate resources manager for the state Department of Water Resources, estimates that California needs 150 percent of normal rainfall to fill up its reservoirs. As the winter progresses, our water supply managers will be watching the Sierra snowpack, and eagerly awaiting projections of how much imported water we can expect next year from the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project. That’s water managed by the state and federal governments that we bring in from outside our county. In a typical year, about 40 percent of our county’s water supply comes from those two sources. In 2014, only a fraction of our normal supply was available.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. The good news is that we have seen some improvements in water use reductions over the past few months. Our county reduced water use by 14 percent in August and September compared to the year before. That’s a better result than we achieved in June (8 percent) or July (11 percent), and getting us closer to our 20 percent target.
Call the district’s drought hotline at (408) 630-2000, e-mail [email protected] email, access an online application to report water waste.
Submitted on behalf of the Santa Clara Valley Water District. For further information, contact your elected district representative, Dennis Kennedy, [email protected] or calling 408-265-2600 or www.save20gallons.org.
