The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which supplies water to much of San Mateo County, has asked its customers to reduce water usage by 10 percent. With Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature on Jan. 17, California is now officially in a drought emergency.
2013 was California’s driest year on record, and so far, 2014 is proving to be no better. The source of the unusual weather is a high pressure ridge sitting off the West Coast, which blocks winter storms from moving in. While high pressure systems are not uncommon during winter, they are usually not as big and don’t remain in one place for long.
Besides the lack of rain in the Bay Area, the drought is affecting snow levels as well. Freshman Tyler Ong, who recently visited Lake Tahoe, says, “The snow was bad. It was pretty bare. You couldn’t ski or anything. There was almost absolutely no snow.”
In mid-January, the Sierra Nevada snow level was 20 percent of the average level for that time of year.
The drought is on the verge of causing serious issues, especially in the agriculture industry and rural communities. When he declared the state of emergency, Gov. Brown said, “We can’t make it rain, but we can be much better prepared for the terrible consequences that California’s drought now threatens, including dramatically less water for our farms and communities and increased fires in both urban and rural areas.”
The declaration comes at a time when the California’s reservoirs and rivers are at record-low water levels. Crystal Springs Reservoir’s water levels are steadily dropping. They have gone from 285 feet in November 2013 to 281 feet as of Jan. 22, 2014. Even decreases of a few feet mean significant water loss.
The state has methods in place to aid in water conservation. Foreseeing a more serious drought, Gov. Brown put together a drought task force last year to determine where to distribute water resources in a drought, and to assess the government’s ability to provide water during this time. However, there is not much surplus water statewide to distribute, which poses a threat to agriculture in California, a major world food supplier.
Asking for a statewide “voluntary” 20 percent reduction in water usage, Gov. Brown hopes to mitigate the demands on the water system. During California’s last major drought from 1987 to 1992, the state took similar measures advising Californians to conserve.
Aragon students and their families are taking measures to conserve water. Sophomore Rachel Quillen says, “My mom’s not running the dishwasher as much as she used to, I’m taking shorter showers, and we’re not watering our flowers anymore. I used to water the flowers every morning, and I take kind of long showers, but now I have cut back.”
Although drought is a significant issue, the state does not have major requirements for water education in school. Health teacher Mindy Trisko says, “Unfortunately when we do our environmental health unit, it ends up being one of the shortest units … Things that I do teach the kids is where our water comes from, like where we get our running water.”
Trisko shares some of her personal experiences, saying, “I talk about my travels in India, where not everyone has running water, so [I share] what that’s like to have the privilege to turn on the faucet and have it run any time you want.”
According to bayarealands.org, the Bay Area’s climate is trending toward drier weather, with the dry Southern California climate slowly migrating up the coast. With water levels dropping throughout the state and little precipitation in the forecast, it is ever more important to take steps to conserve water. For Quillen, if that means letting her flowers wither in the heat, that is a sacrifice she is willing to make.
