This is just one post in the Conservation Category

Water rationing isn’t in Bakersfield’s (immediate) future, but conservation is still needed

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 4, 2008 at 10:24 am

From the Bakersfield Californian:

Water rationing could be in California’s immediate future — if not this summer, quite possibly in summers not far distant. The Sierra snowpack is significantly down this year — again. It’s so far down that state and regional water officials have broached the subject of enforced consumption limits.

But not in Bakersfield. We’ve got more water than the typical California city. Surprised? Me too. We’re used to getting the short end of things here. The worst air, high rates of asthma, diabetes, infant mortality, you name it. I look at the dry riverbed we call the Kern River and assume we’re one harsh summer away from an outright ban on swimming pools.

But it turns out we’re water-wealthy — at least as water-wealthy as a desert city can be in the chronically parched American West.

“We have built systems that prepare for droughts,” says Florn Core, the city of Bakersfield’s water resources director. “We store so much of our water underground, we are pretty safe. It’s your coastal cities and metropolitan areas that might have problems. They rely on surface water. We’re able to store water underground here, thanks to our geography and geology.” And our foresight.

But the dry conditions are already forcing water officials to pump water from those underground aquifers. Allow those water levels to continue to dwindle each year and, if conditions persist, restrictions become inevitable. The water we’ve been saving for the proverbial rainy day — or, in this case, a devastating succession of non-rainy days — becomes an even more valuable commodity.

Read the rest of this article from the Bakersfield Californian by clicking here.

May 4, 2008 · Filed Under Bakersfield, Conservation