How Much Is Enough Water?

With mostly clear skies forecast through Tuesday the California drought wears on. a recent informal poll question asked “Do you believe CA has enough water storage/supply to meet the current and future needs?” With a resounding 86 percent No, 6 percent don’t know, and 8 percent think we have enough to make it work.

Previous informal myMotherLode polls highlight a local concern about water. With 87% saying they were still voluntarily conserving water in December 2014. Poll responders leaned a bit pessimistic last July when a poll asked “Has Water Use Been Reduced Enough To Prevent Problems In October?” Nearly half of the votes, 402, were for “hopefully” 31 percent said no, not enough had been conserved, and two percent felt it was important for more conservation to be done immediately. Calaveras reported the highest water usage drop with 21.2 percent saved from last year, T.U.D. use was also down 18 percent.  Other local reductions were minimal matching the overall reduction in state water use, more details are here.

There was optimism from the Tuolumne Utilities District this week. They expect conservation measures will be put in place this spring but not to the degree of last year. T.U.D. reports at least 117 wells have gone dry in Tuolumne County. Lake Don Pedro Community Services District is in a more dire situation, hoping for new rainfall, and reductions made to fish related flow releases, to make the water last through August. More details are in Tuesdays news story “Supervisors Hear Update On Drought.”