California Drought Response and Continued Need to Conserve Water
California Drought Response and Continued Need to Conserve Water.
To advance the priorities of the Water Action Plan and respond to drought, the voters passed a comprehensive water bond, the Legislature appropriated and accelerated funding and state agencies accelerated grants and loans to water projects.
In February 2017, the statewide residential water use average was 57.5 gallons per person per day, the lowest ever reported for the state.
The state finally began taking a major step toward that goal, unveiling a list of 12 huge new water projects — from massive new dams in the north to expanded groundwater banks in the south — that will compete for $2.7 billion in state bond funding for new water storage projects.
The reservoir, which would cost roughly $800 million, would hold 140,000 acre-feet of water — enough to meet the water needs of 650,000 people for a year.
That’s enough water for the needs of 9 million people a year.
Centennial Reservoir: The Nevada Irrigation District in Grass Valley is proposing building a 275-foot-tall dam and 110,000 acre-foot reservoir on the Bear River near Colfax in Placer County.
Doing things like expanding current efforts to improve the efficiency of water use in homes and industries.
The state has already made progress in this area, but our urban water use remains too high and much more potential exists to continue to replace inefficient appliances, reduce waste and leaks, and fundamentally change the nature of our outdoor landscape away from water-intensive lawns and gardens to low water-use plants and gardens.
The Association represents the City of Hollister, the City of San Juan Bautista, the Sunnyslope County Water District and the San Benito County Water District for all their water conservation and water resource protection programs.