Since the last major drought in 2015, local water providers have implemented nearly 20 projects to increase water supply reliability and resiliency to drought. These projects allow water providers to more easily shift to groundwater and share water around the region in order to reduce reliance on Folsom Lake and the Lower American River for drinking water supplies.
While the Sacramento region is expected to be able to meet the water supply needs of people this year. RWA is continuing to work with the Sacramento Water Forum, and federal and state agencies, to monitor and address conditions.
Dry year actions underway by local water providers include:
- Shifting to using more groundwater: Over the past several decades local water providers have been working together to sustainably shift the region’s water use to surface water or groundwater according to conditions. This has allowed more groundwater to be available for dry times. We know this approach works as demonstrated during the most recent drought when the Sacramento region used more groundwater than typical in 2014 (a dry year) to leave more in our waterways for fish and wildlife. In the wet years since the last drought, when there was surplus water beyond environmental needs, more surface water was used and the groundwater basin recovered.
- Sharing water around the region: Since the last drought, water providers have invested in new pipelines, interties, pumps and groundwater wells to move water where it’s needed. This system builds on the existing ability to shift between surface and groundwater and is ready to assist the communities most directly impacted by lower levels at Folsom Reservoir.
- Asking customers to voluntarily conserve water by 15 percent, especially outdoors where most household water use occurs in the Sacramento region. We ask our customers to use water efficiently no matter the weather, and regional water use is already lower than it was in 2013, before the last major drought. Now, customers must be even more focused on efficiency and stopping water waste.
It’s important to remember that we’ve been in drought before—and frankly will be here again due to the impacts of climate change. We will also experience “wet” years with above average precipitation. To address the extreme and ongoing fluctuations between dry and wet years, the region’s water providers have developed a comprehensive water resilience portfolio called WaterFuture, which encompasses our entire ‘supershed’ from the mountain tops of the American River watershed to the groundwater basin below the valley floor.
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