Most water districts will be able to make up for expected shortages but three urban water suppliers—including two in Southern California—told the state they will still come up short even after putting more restrictions in place.
Nearly all urban water suppliers have put in place response plans for a 10- to 20-percent shortage. The department reported the shortage conditions in its first-of-its-kind assessment on water supply and demand published in November.
California faces a fourth year of severe drought in 2023. Despite that, water suppliers are better prepared this year, according to state water officials.
The three districts that expect water shortages even after taking conservation measures are Menlo Park City in Northern California, and Moorpark and Simi Valley in Ventura County. They serve about 150,000 people, or 0.4 percent of the state’s population.
Menlo Park projected a 21-percent shortage before taking response actions. After implementing actions, they estimated they could reduce their shortage to 5 percent. The city also might be able to activate water transfers from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission as a member agency.
Ventura County Waterworks districts 1 and 8—in Moorpark and Simi Valley, respectively—also projected shortages.
Moorpark projected a 54-percent water shortage. After taking response actions, Moorpark estimated it could reduce the shortage to 4 percent.
Simi Valley initially projected a 70-percent water shortage. After taking further actions to reduce the shortage, the city reported they could reduce that amount to 6 percent.
Both water suppliers get water from the Metropolitan Water District through the Calleguas Municipal Water District. Calleguas projected a 40-percent shortage that it plans to address with aggressive water-saving actions.
To make up the difference, some actions considered by the state’s water suppliers include limiting landscape irrigation to specific days and times, fixing leaks and breaks by the customer, expanding public outreach campaigns, and prohibiting water use for decorative water features.
Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order in March requiring urban water suppliers to submit a preliminary water shortage assessment report this year. There are 435 urban water suppliers that are required to submit reports. Of those, 414 were submitted.
The majority—338—of suppliers told the state they expected no shortages, while 73 said they would be 18-percent short before making up the difference through conservation actions.
The department said state residents did their part last year to help reduce water use.
“Thank you to all Californians for stepping up conservation efforts to help reduce water use statewide and to urban water suppliers who are serious about planning for their communities,” Nemeth said. “Coming together like this to conserve will make a big impact for our water future.”
As of Oct. 4, most of the state is under severe drought conditions with about one-third of the state under extreme or exceptional drought conditions, according to the report. The driest areas this year are in the San Joaquin River and Tulare Lake regions in central and south-central California.
The 2022 water year which ended Sept. 30 provided the state with severe drought conditions for the third year. The state received an average of 17.9 inches of precipitation, which was 76-percent of average. The 2022 snowpack was also one of the 10 lowest years on record.
The statewide storage levels in reservoirs began to decrease starting in June. By the end of September, reservoir storage reached an average of 69 percent.
