Newsom Declares Drought Emergency in 2 Counties as State Sees Fourth Driest Year kqed.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kqed.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
City of Santa Maria now providing customers with 100% groundwater supplies
KSBY
and last updated 2021-04-20 22:26:35-04
The City of Santa Maria is now providing customers with 100% groundwater supplies, due to the drought and reduced State Water deliveries.
The groundwater supplies continue to meet all drinking water standards, however, Santa Maria customers may notice a difference in the water due to the increased hardness and mineral content.
And with a second consecutive dry year for California, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) recently set its State Water allocation for the 2021 water year at 5%. This is based on factors, such as water in storage, environmental requirements, rain and snowmelt runoff projections.
Drought Takes Hold of the American West
The megadrought continues, with contingency plans differing by location. April 21, 2021, 8am PDT | James Brasuell | California is suffering from severe drought again, reports Peter Gleick. This winter produced water conditions far below normal for the second year in a row, the eighth year in the last 10, the 14th year in the last 20. Los Angeles has had 39% of normal precipitation; San Diego, only 30%; San Francisco, 37%; Sacramento, less than 40%.
It s only been a few years since the last drought crisis in California then Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency in 2014, when the state s reservoirs were at roughly the same level they are at now. The California Department of Water Resources announced that it expected to deliver only 5% of requested supplies to municipal and agricultural users on the State Water Project, down from the initial allocation of 10% announced in December, reports Gleick. Still, Gov. Gavin Newsom
Newsom Declares Drought Emergency In 2 CA Counties msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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An unseasonably dry March and lack of sufficient water supplies have foiled a proposed water release by the Oakdale and South San Joaquin Irrigation Districts that would have boosted Stanislaus River flows beginning this past week for the benefit of out-migrating salmon, and also supplied water to farms and communities in the San Joaquin Valley most vulnerable to extreme drought conditions.
The plan would have sent up to 100,000 acre-feet of water down the river between April 15 and May 15 in what are known as “pulse flows” to help young salmon navigate their way toward the Delta and, eventually, out to sea. The extra water, once it reached the Delta, would have been available for export to south-of-Delta farms and communities in dire need of supplies this year.