Santa Clarita Valley water officials are expecting more restrictions as a result of Gov. Jerry Brown’s drought declaration Wednesday.
But the details of how that might affect local users beyond the three-day-a-week watering schedule and potential fines already facing local water ratepayers probably won’t be clear until later this month, an official said Thursday.
“The devil will be in the details as the situation unfolds, and the state Water Resources Control Board (WRCB) examines specific measures to implement the governor’s executive order,” said Dan Masnada, general manager of the Castaic Lake Water Agency, which retails water to the Santa Clarita Valley. “With the state’s snowpack at an all-time low, and no end in sight for this historic drought, all of us have to expect even more restrictive limits on water use.”
Earlier in the week, Brown toured with media around a grassy area usually still covered with several feet of snow this time of year, and talked about the dire need for a 25 percent reduction of water use statewide.
“Whatever the state (WRCB) comes down with, we will have to comply with,” Masnada said, adding “it will serve to stretch our water supply that much further if 2016 or, God forbid, 2017, stays dry.
“We need to plan for the worst and hope for the best,” he added.
The plan for the time being is to stay with the state-mandated three-day-a-week schedule, which took effect again on Wednesday.
If history bears out, local water officials will hear something from the state board before the end of this month, and Santa Clarita Valley water governing boards would probably have compliance plans in place by the following month, Masnada said.
“Things could get worse,” Masnada said, “however, right now, we have a water supply in place and we can meet demands if we have compliance (with the conservation plan).”
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Tweet This
Facebook
Digg This
Bookmark
Stumble
RSS
REAL NAMES ONLY: All posters must use their real individual or business name. This applies equally to Twitter account holders who use a nickname.
46 Comments
Crazy but necessary
How about the golf courses?
Golf courses in la city uses reclaim water from the sewage plants.
Golf courses in la city uses reclaim water from the sewage plants.
How about almond farms?
Cruise ships purify the ocean water for there use why can’t California do that!
Finally someone says it! Ive said it since day one but no I was crazy!
Finally someone says it! Ive said it since day one but no I was crazy!
End cloud seeding!
Will Hart
What is being done to import water at develop other sources, I hear no mention of this.
Stop building new homes!
Good. I’ve seen a lot of people still washing their cars in their driveways!!!
How about we build a trillion dollar water pipe line instead of a trillion dollar rail line???
What’s missing isn’t the means to move the water. It’s the WATER that’s missing.
Because the railroad isn’t going to pay for a pipeline.
Desalination plants!
Cut construction of new homes by 25% and deport the 11 million that shouldn’t be here..might just save some water.
Cut construction of new homes by 25% and deport the 11 million that shouldn’t be here..might just save some water.
Remember not all live in California. .
Remember not all live in California. .
Never said they did. And not all of our water comes from California. :)
You mean you as well? Go back to Europe!
Wow William, that’s almost racist…. :) you need to get some thicker skin my friend.
Our parks ate going to get a little brown this year.
Our parks ate going to get a little brown this year.
Teardown the last 5000 homes built here.
Teardown the last 5000 homes built here.
I’d rather have a brown yard than no water. Let’s get serious and find ways to conserve. We can save water. Don’t just say “the other guy”, figure out what you can do and then do it. Full washer loads, water efficient washers and dishwashers. Adjust sprinklers so it goes on grass and not sidewalks. Let’s have ideas or who saved the most winners! I know some golf courses use gray water, can this be expanded? Do tankless water heaters save water? I put a pump on my water heater with timers so I get hot water in the shower immediately. Do you wait for hot water? Put in a pump. What ideas do you have?
Thanks Obama!
Thanks Obama!
Since California and The US were doing rebates for renewable energy, why not do some sort of incentive like that for making your yard more drought tolerant. Also, has anyone here heard of those water producing billboards? http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/green-tech/a8875/a-billboard-that-condenses-water-from-humidity-15393050/ Popular Mechanics did a story on them. There are currently some in Lima Peru to supply potable water to people there, couldn’t we look into building some of these condensers that could produce non potable water for farm land to help them not use as much water? These are just some thoughts on the subject.
Stop building new homes….such as the huge Newhall Ranch Development. Why should I let my landscape die while a bunch of new water users are hooked into a dwindling water supply and the developers make a tidy profit? Or how about just requiring by code new homes be built with grey – water systems or rain water capturing systems. Oh no… couldn’t do that – would cut into that profit margin…..
Let’s all try our best. It will make a difference. I use a plastic bowl to rinse dishes in the sink and then give the dirty water to a tree in the yard. We pot a drip system around 13 trees so they each get one gallon a day. Now it will chg to every other and 2 gal. Wish I could save water from washing machine. Any ideas? Oh, and drink water if you get it in a restaurant. Put a filled, plastic water bottle in toilet tank. I’m trying.
Thanks for staying positive Shirley! I fill up a gallon pitcher (of the cold water before it gets warm) in the shower every morning and then use it for cooking, coffee and watering plants. My friends think I’m a little overboard, but every little bit helps!
That great, I’ll try that too. It’s our water, it’s our future, it’s ours to make a difference.
The empty resevoirs are pretty scray. What I can’t understand is why Castaic Water AGency is just proceeding with Newhall Ranch (21,000) new homes, Entrada North and south – 2500, Homestead, 3,400. Massivew amounts of new approvals all grading grading in the City area. They will all have lawns and pools, etc, wash their cars. Where is this water going to come from if we don’t have it for the peopkle that are here now. Its time to say no to these sprawl developments until we understand what is going on and whether we can provide water for these people in a drought. We shouldn’t be trying to get thousands of new residents when there isn’t any water.
Ok, we have a water drought going on, a bad one. Why is Valencia and Santa Clarita doing all this new construction? It does not make any sense to me.
Arn’t they building a water desalination plant? Just build like 3 more and you’ll make it.
That is far from the answer. Dsal plants are very expensive to run and the salt discharge is bad for everyone.
I can’t see salt being that bad, you can use use it for food, or put it back in the ocean because billions of gallons of fresh water are being dumped in by ice caps melting to fast. I mean I understand you would have way more salt then needed for anything but even in the oil industry that I’m involved in we deal with radioactive saltwater with plenty of gasses that if you breath in you could be dead before you hit the ground, and that’s a bi-product of crude oil. But yet so is natural gas. We just do what we got to, to be safe and dispose of the waist in the best way we humans can.
William this is bad xD
Jerry Brown needs to address restaurant’s and their dishwasher machines that waste a lot of water. …
All this to save some Delta Smelt, indirectly, we could solve this issue with a bottle of mustard. Turn the water back on to the San Joaquin Valley and the moisture level will naturally balance itself out once again.
I though watering the yard was supposed to be no more than twice a week.
As a renter I am set by contract to keep the yard “green”. What does this mean for me?