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Orange County (& the rest of Southern California) could face rationing next year

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 30, 2008 at 5:37 am

From the Science Dude at the O.C. Register:

The agency that provides about half of the 720 billion gallons of water consumed in Orange County each year is considering issuing a water supply alert, a step toward possible water rationing.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) will discuss the issue during its June board meeting because the areas where it gets water remain unusually dry and the amount of runoff it can take from the Sierra Nevada could be sharply cut for environmental reasons.

The alert is the second of three steps MWD would have to take to have the right to impose rationing on the nearly 18 million people it serves in Southern California.

“A ‘water supply alert’ does not mean less water being supplied; it means that the water being supplied is severely depleting reserves, and that if water use is not cut to help balance the use of reserves, the region will more likely be in a shortage and instituting rationing,” Bob Muir, an MWD spokesman, said in an e-mail.

The Science Dude notes that Diamond Valley Lake is at 68% capacity now. I recently attended the Southern California Water Dialog meeting where a Metropolitan official informed us that the Met plans to use about 1/3 of its emergency supplies this year, and 1/3 next year, and then we will “hit the wall.” Cheery thought, isn’t it?

Read more from the O.C. Register by clicking here.

May 30, 2008 · Filed Under Conservation

Comments

One Response to “Orange County (& the rest of Southern California) could face rationing next year”

  1. David Coffin on May 30th, 2008 11:30 am

    >> The Science Dude notes that Diamond Valley Lake is at 68% capacity now. I recently attended the Southern California Water Dialog meeting where a Metropolitan official informed us that the Met plans to use about 1/3 of its emergency supplies this year, and 1/3 next year, and then we will “hit the wall.” Cheery thought, isn’t it?

    So in the meantime we just keep cheerily building new housing and supplying new water connections to them.

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