LOS ANGELES — Southern California’s largest urban water district declared a drought emergency Tuesday and called for local water suppliers to immediately cut the use of water from the State Water Project.
The resolution passed by the board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California calls on people across the region to step up conservation efforts, but also focuses especially on six water agencies that rely heavily or entirely on the water-starved State Water Project.
Those water agencies, which supply cities in Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties, have been instructed to activate additional conservation measures and reduce their usage of water from the State Water Project, which is in an acute shortage after one of the state’s driest years on record.
“We are focusing on getting the message out throughout our service area that people need to ramp up their focus on conservation,” Assistant General Manager Deven Upadhyay said.
He said the declaration of a drought emergency is intended to support Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call for Californians to reduce water use by 15%, but it’s also intended to focus on needed actions by the subset of MWD’s member agencies that depend on the State Water Project.
California’s last two water years, which ended Sept. 30, were the driest two-year period in more than a century of records based on precipitation. Although storms in October brought heavy rains across Northern California and helped to raise the levels of reservoirs, the supplies of the State Water Project remain depleted.
This year, with the state’s major reservoirs at some of their lowest levels ever, water agencies received just 5% of their full allocations from the State Water Project. State water officials have said that if the conditions don’t improve significantly, they plan to initially announce a zero-percent allocation for next year.
The allocation typically changes depending on the amount of snow and rain during the winter, and the outlook could improve. But how much is uncertain. And in the meantime, managers of agencies that rely on the State Water Project are being told to prepare for much less water.
MWD imports water from the State Water Project and the Colorado River, supplying 19 million people across six counties. Both sources are facing shortages.
The State Water Project delivers water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to farmland and cities to the south. Built in the 1960s and early '70s, the project includes canals, pipelines, reservoirs and pumping facilities.
For now, California’s allotments of Colorado River water haven’t been cut back like those of Arizona and Nevada, but that could change as the water level of Lake Mead continues to decline toward more severe shortage levels.
For now, MWD officials said, drought conditions are especially severe on the State Water Project and require immediate action.
Areas that depend on the State Water Project are supplied by six agencies: Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Calleguas Municipal Water District, Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District, Three Valleys Municipal Water District and Inland Empire Utilities Agency.
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officials urged customers to redouble their efforts to save water.
“The drought that we are currently facing is serious,” said Anselmo Collins, senior assistant general manager of LADWP’s water system. “We urge everyone to take a closer look at how they are using water inside and outside their home because the water we save now is water in our reservoirs for next spring and summer.”
Los Angeles city officials announced last month that the city began taking less water from the State Water Project and began receiving additional Colorado River water.
MWD acts as a water wholesaler, supplying water to 26 member cities and agencies. Officials of each local water supplier will decide how to respond to MWD’s drought declaration.
MWD officials said they recognize that the situations of different water agencies vary depending on their available supplies and local circumstances. In their resolution, the MWD board called for water agencies to reduce their use of supplies from the State Water Project and to immediately implement conservation requirements and restrictions to achieve those reductions.
