By Ari Burack
June 4, 2008
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proclamation today of a statewide drought has prompted Bay Area water districts to renew their call for residents to conserve water.
Schwarzenegger issued a statement this morning ordering the state Department of Water Resources to take immediate action, including water transfers to assist with emergency shortages throughout the state, as well as to hasten existing grant programs to local water districts.
In making the proclamation, Schwarzenegger cited “two straight years of below-average rainfall, very low snowmelt runoff and the largest court-ordered water transfer restrictions in state history.”
Schwarzenegger said several California communities have already been forced to order mandatory water conservation or rationing, and warned of extreme fire danger from dry conditions, loss of crops, degraded water quality and economic damage to both urban and rural communities.
Though the Governor’s order specifically mentioned areas in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River basins, as well as Southern California, as being particularly hard hit, local water district officials said today they would use the opportunity to remind Bay Area residents of the importance of conserving water.
“We really need people to take our request to cut back on water use seriously, so we don’t have to have that rationing,” said Tony Winnicker, spokesman for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which manages water for some 2.4 million residents in San Francisco, and parts of San Mateo, Santa Clara and Alameda counties.
Winnicker said the Governor’s proclamation doesn’t change the Public Utilities Commission’s current water supply outlook, “but it certainly serves to point out how serious the situation is,” he said.
“The main thing for us, is we’re looking at this as an opportunity to raise awareness about conservation,” said Santa Clara Valley Water District spokeswoman Susan Siravo, whose agency serves about 1.8 million Santa Clara County residents and offers several rebate options for water conservation.
East Bay Municipal Water District spokesman Jeff Becerra said his agency, which on May 13 declared its own local water emergency and ordered water rationing for about 1.3 million residents of central and southern Contra Costa County, might now be eligible under the Governor’s proclamation for additional grant funding from the state for conservation programs.
Officials from the Contra Cost County Water District, the Livermore-Amador Valley’s Zone 7 Water Agency and the Marin Municipal Water District expressed similar sentiments about the need for residents to conserve water.
Residents can contact their local water district for further information about water conservation and rebate programs.
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