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Officials Call For Conservation After Drought Declared In California
By Chris Sieroty
Beverly Hills officials are calling on residents to reduce water usage in their everyday lives after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently declared a statewide drought because of severe water shortages.
Sixty-five percent of the water used in Beverly Hills is for irrigation, including landscaping, according to a City spokeswoman.
“We are encouraging people to adhere to the governor’s message and to increase their conservation efforts,” said Beverly Hills spokeswoman Cheryl Burnett. “We can do our share by prudently watering.”
Earlier this month, Gov. Schwarzenegger declared a statewide drought, ordering state officials to help local water districts with water conservation efforts and directing them to help farmers suffering losses from the drought.
Annual rainfall in Los Angeles between July 1, 2006 and July 1, 2007 was only 3.2 inches, the lowest total on record. The area normally receives about 15 inches per year.
“In 2006 for example, we had more water than we knew what to do with,” the governor said. “But raging storm water ran into the ocean because we could not capture it. The Shasta and Folsom Reservoirs were forced to release trillions and trillions of gallons of excess water. Today, those same reservoirs are nearly 40 percent below capacity.”
The declaration of a state-wide drought, has forced the Metropolitan Water District to issue a “Water Supply Alert.”
“This is a serious situation,” said MWD General Manager Jeff Kightlinger. “Now that the drought is officials, consumers need to realize that water rationing looms should voluntary water-saving efforts not prove enough, particularly if we faced shortages that compelled our board to implement the district’s recently adopted supply allocation plan.”
The MWD is tapping into its groundwater storage to meet current water demands. Over the last two years, the MWD has used about half of its dry-year reserves.
The agency, which imports water from Northern California and the Colorado River, is a water wholesaler that serves 26 cities and water agencies that supply some 18 million customers in Southern California.
Burnett said Beverly Hills receives about 90 percent of its water from the MWD. Beverly Hills buys approximately 4.2 billion gallons of water from the MWD, with the City budgeting $7 million in its fiscal year 2008-09 budget for water.
Pipeline Repairs
Beginning June 21, the MWD will begin making repairs to its Sepulveda Feeder, its central water line that brings water to much of Los Angeles County and a portion of Orange County.
MWD spokesman Bob Muir said the repairs would be completed by July 2. The work will be done to three sections of the 45-mile pipeline in Brentwood, Culver City and Ladera Heights.
Muir said the MWD was asking the 12 million people served by the pipeline to conserve water during construction, especially by not watering outdoors during peak times during the morning and mid-day.
“The project should not have an impact on Beverly Hills, if all goes according to the MWD’s plan,” Burnett said.
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