California's Drinking Water Reservoir Nearly Empty

Lake Cachuma, a giant reservoir built to hold Santa Barbara County’s drinking water, has all but vanished in California’s historic drought.

It reached an all-time low this summer — 7 percent capacity, which left a thick beige watermark that circles the hills framing the lake like an enormous bathtub ring.

Barring a winter miracle of massive snows and rains extending into April, weather that has forsaken Southern California for more than five years,there will be “no water available next year from the reservoir,” said Duane Stroup, deputy area manager for the south-central region of the federal Bureau of Reclamation.

The entire Santa Ynez Valley will then face a future without water. The 3,000-acre reservoir supplies half of what the valley needs to recharge an underground aquifer that nearly every household, business and farm uses to pump water.

“I don’t know what will happen if we get the same amount of [precipitation] we got this winter. The wells will go dry, and they will fail. There are people in agriculture that will be required to fallow crops,” meaning destroy them, said Bruce Wales, general manager of the Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District.

He predicts the area could one day resemble the Central Valley to the east. Residents there couldn’t wash or flush after 2,000 wells recently went dry, and the state has been forced to provide huge tanks and water to hundreds of homes.

The cities of Solvang and Buellton are making plans to tap alternative water sources. The community of Montecito is scrambling to buy whatever the state and private vendors can provide.   Next door, Santa Barbara is strongly considering a total ban on outdoor water use as it rushes to start operation of a desalination plant that will turn Pacific Ocean saltwater to drinking water at a rate of 3 million gallons per day.

The water woes have curbed the appeal of coastal towns cherished by the rich and famous and eventually will be a drain on the local economy.

On Santa Barbara’s hills, movie stars live in houses shaded by colorful citrus trees.

In Montecito, where talk show hosts Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres both own property, large estates with long driveways are hidden behind gates.

Vacationers flock to the valley to enjoy the scenic landscape and wine.

Because it’s a major drinking water source, swimming was never allowed, but the lake was stocked with trout, coy and other fish for recreational anglers.

Austin Snider remembers the lake “at its highest point,” nearly halfway up the mountains, when he arrived at the marina as the new mechanic in 2011.

“I’ve watched it go down every year since,” he said recently, standing on a bank about 30 feet below what would have been the water’s surface.

Fearing the worst, local water suppliers ordered everyone to cut 35 percent of their monthly water use a year ago. The strain of strict conservation is starting to show. “Customers describe it as having drought fatigue,” said Fray Crease, the county’s water agency manager.

Read full article at: The Washington Post