PHOTO BY ANTHONY PLASCENCIA, VENTURA COUNTY STAR // BUY THIS PHOTO
FILE PHOTO / THE STAR Eric Bergh, resource manager for the Calleguas Minicipal Water District, the purveyor of all imported water in Ventura County, points out the size of Lake Bard, which holds up to 10,000 acre-feet of emergency water for the county. In comparison, Lake Casitas near Ojai that supplies the Casitas Municipal Water District can hold more than 250,000 acre-feet of water.
About three-quarters of Ventura County residents are being urged to reduce water consumption from Thursday through at least noon Sunday because of work that will temporarily shut down a regional water treatment plant.
Eric Bergh, a spokesman for the Calleguas Municipal Water District, said the district has never come out with as strong of a statement urging water conversation during his 23 years with it as it did on Tuesday.
During the conservation period, residents are urged not to do any outdoor irrigation, which accounts for 60 to 70 percent of residential water use, Bergh said. Residents also are urged not to wash their vehicles, fill their swimming pools or spas, or hose down driveways and sidewalks.
Other water-saving measures include running only full loads in washing machines and dishwashers, not leaving the tap running when washing dishes, showering for no more than five minutes and not leaving the water running while brushing teeth or shaving.
The district supplies water to Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Camarillo, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Naval Base Ventura County and some unincorporated parts of the county. It has about 630,000 water users in the county, Bergh said.
The call comes because the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, of which the Calleguas district is a member, needs to make physical modifications to its distribution system so more Colorado River water can be delivered to Ventura County and other areas.
Susan Mulligan, Calleguas’ general manager, said the district will draw upon water it has stored in Lake Bard in Thousand Oaks and in the Fox Canyon Aquifer near Moorpark during the shutdown.
Mulligan warned, however, that the supply of water from these sources is “limited and the demand for water is high as a result of the recent warm weather.”
Metropolitan gets its water from the Colorado River and from an aqueduct that which brings water from the northern end of the state. Metropolitan is having to cut down on the amount of water it gets from the aqueduct because of the drought.
During most years, any work that would require a shutdown would normally be done in January or other winter month when demand for water tends to be at its lowest.
Demand for Calleguas water during January tends to fall to about 130 to 150 cubic feet of water per second. But during a hot spell like the one last week when temperatures across many parts of the county hit 90 degrees or more, demand shot up to more than 200 cubic feet of water per second during parts of the day.
Calleguas could come perilously close to be being unable to meet another surge in water demand, should the upcoming shutdown come during another hot spell.
“There is not enough delivery capacity,” Bergh said.
Metropolitan has had to make do with getting about 3.5 million fewer acre-feet of water from the State Water Project over the past seven or so years, Bergh said. An acre foot of water is what a typical family of four consumes in a year.
Water officials have taken numerous steps at water conservation during this time, including recycling more water and using technology to save water.
“If it weren’t for that, the situation would be much worse today,” Bergh said.
But Bergh emphasized that because if the drought, the need to conserve water will extend far beyond this weekend.
“Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures,” said Debra Man, Metropolitan’s assistant general manager and chief operating officer, in a news release Tuesday.
On the Net: Visit www.mwdh2o.com or www.bewaterwise.com for more water-saving tips.
Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2014/may/06/vcspop-most-of-county-will-need-to-conserve/#ixzz313TQtAlZ
- vcstar.com
No comments:
Post a Comment