San Luis Obispo’s drought-driven water emergency is officially over, but don’t think you can start having water fights to beat the summer heat.
At its Tuesday, June 27 regular meeting, the council “rescinded resolutions that had declared a drought emergency, as well as water use restrictions,” said Mychal Boerman, SLO’s Water Resources Program manager. “The action occurs roughly two months after Governor Brown issued an executive order ending the state of emergency in California and eliminating the state’s water use reduction requirement.”
It’s been a roller coaster ride for Californians these past few years, which saw 5 years of the harshest drought on record with almost non-existent snow packs at one point.
But that was then broken by a record winter of 2016-17, which saw record amounts of snowfall in the Sierras to the point where some ski resorts have stayed open well into the summer months.
SLO recorded some 40.04 inches of rainfall from July 2016 to June 2017. More than 100 inches of rain fell in the Coastal Mountains of Big Sur triggering landslides, including the Mud Creek Slide, which promises to keep the roadway closed for at least a year.
Gov. Jerry Brown in January 2014 declared a drought emergency and ordered everyone in California to conserve water, setting down a goal of 20-percent reductions. The City of SLO that same year adopted a Resolution that limited outdoor irrigation (lawn and garden watering) to 3-days a week, Boerman said.
“In 2015, the Council declared a local drought emergency and further limited outdoor irrigation to 2-days a week,” he added.
The rains over the past year have changed things dramatically and Boerman said the City’s water supply is replenished.
“With heavy rains this past winter,” he explained, “storage in the City’s three reservoirs has increased significantly. This increased the resiliency of the City’s water supply and resulted in the addition of several years of stored water in the three reservoirs.”
SLO is a part owner and a subscriber in the Lake Nacimiento water project, gets Santa Margarita Lake water, and also is a signatory to the Whale Rock Agreement, which gives SLO access to the reservoir in Cayucos, too.
Boerman said the City’s new water model “estimates that there is currently more than 5-years worth of water supply available. As of June 21, the water level at Salinas Reservoir [Santa Margarita Lake], one of the City’s three water resources, was at 97-percent of capacity, while Whale Rock Reservoir was 79% full and Nacimiento Reservoir was up to 76% capacity.
SLO has another major water source — its groundwater wells — that they haven’t had to use much for some time.
“In 2016,” Boerman told the SLO City News, “we didn’t receive any water from the City’s wells for use in our potable water system. The City also has a well at the golf course [Laguna Lake] and the well in front of the Corporation Yard on Prado Road, which are currently used.
“Groundwater is still very much a part of our water portfolio and will be utilized by the City in the future as more information on the basin and water quality becomes available.”
But wet winter aside, Gov. Brown asks everyone to make water conservation a way of life.
“While the State and City are no longer experiencing a drought,” Boerman said, “both want to encourage long-term water conservation. Gov. Brown signed an executive order in 2016 that established long-term conservation measures that would emphasize ‘conservation as a way of life’ in California.
“Likewise, the City has established long-term conservation programs and policies, including prohibitions on wasteful water use and free consultations with water conservation staff.”
The City will also continue with its school education and public outreach programs, which are run through Boerman’s office.
“For decades our community has embraced water conservation as a way of life,” said SLO Utilities Director, Carrie Mattingly. “It has also heavily invested in ensuring it has a robust and resilient water supply portfolio. Continued support of these efforts support quality of life, not just for those of us here today, but for those generations to come. It will assist us in withstanding the next drought.”
