Loading...
Exhibit CC 07-05-2016 Item No. 8 Drought status written communication5an Jose Jtercur,g News CAutOllltA'SlllTLARGIH'EWSP>.PU 4SNA.MrllBY,CAUFtliNIAl'£W'Si'AP~RPU!iUSH!JlSAS.SOQAT(IH B1 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 111 IAYARlAMIW'liilUJUP WWW.HEllCURYli£W5.COH 1111 SUlO l.lK!L004UYAli£ARUCl£J1SW!l!U.YISi'RUl?ANOOHUKE MONDAY, JULY 4, 2016 http://www.mercurynews .com/opinion/ci 30076812/keegan-water-conservation-needs-be-way-life Keegan: Water conservation needs to be a way of life By Barbara Keegan Special to the Mercury News POSTED: 0710212016 10:49:00 PM PDT "This is California, where we care about our precious natural resources and know how to plan for the future. Keep up your great habits and make saving water a way of life." Our community has done an outstanding job of reducing water use, and we thank you for embodying all of our water savings slogans: Brown became the new green . Rain or shine, yo u kept saving water. You fought the drought , inside and out. We know that you're tired of the drought. But, it's not over. In fact, we may face more frequent droughts in the future as our climate changes . Now is not the time to let our guard down . We need to be ready in case the next few years are as dry as the la st few. Readiness means having enough water stored underground to get through another dry period. Our groundwater basins have helped cany us through some of the driest years in our county's recorded history, but we need to protect these reserves . Currently, groundwater storage in Santa Clara County remains below normal. Recognizing that the conditions have improved but we are not out of the woods yet, the Santa Clara Valley Water Di strict Board is now calling for 20 percent reductions through January 2017, down from our previous call of 30 percent. When the current drought began in 2013, our groundwater reserves were plentiful due to the water district's active management. In 2014, those reserves dropped by more than 82,000 acre-feet, enough water to nearly fill our largest reservoir, Anderson. This trend had to stop to minimize th e risk of land subsidence, the sinking of the land surface as a result of groundwater overdraft. Fortunately, the community responded in 2015 with water savings of 27 percent, beating the statewide average. The water district assisted on the supply side, bringing water into the county that we had wisely banked in wetter years, and purchasing supplemental imported water. Local water retailers also played a key role by getting the message out and shifting sources. Nevertheless, groundwater re serves continued to fall, but at a much slower pace in 2015. Our situation improved with the El Nino-fueled storms of last winter. Our local reservoir storage was near average by the end of March, and we are promised a much improved allocation of imported water that comes through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. But those groundwater reserves have only just begun to rebound. With the water we have available, we are able to supply our three drinking water treatment plants and return our groundwater recharge ponds into use. Most of our nearly 100 percolation ponds are now filling, and that water is beginning to make its way to our aquifers. This means that the replenishing of groundwater has begun, but it is far from finished. Furthermore, the community is continuing to respond with savings of 29 percent this year. Through our landscape rebate program, more than 7.7 million square feet of lawns have been converted to low water using landscapes. Hundreds of leaking and poorly aimed sprinklers were reported and fixed. These changes will continue to save millions of gallons for years to come. Looking to the future, we are investing in conservation and developing drought-proof supplies like recycled and purified water and graywater. Our plan is to boost water reuse from 6 percent of our supply to 10 percent by 2025, reducing our reliance on imported water. This is California, where we care about our precious natural resources and know how to plan for the future. We should never go back to ignoring broken sprinkler heads and leaving the faucet on while we brush our teeth. Keep up your great habits and make saving water a way of life. Barbara Keegan is the chair of the Santa Clara Valley Water District Board of Directors. She wrote this for the Mercury News. Copyright © 2016 -San Jose Mercwy News MediaNews Group -Bay Area News Group