The largely dry winter across California is leading to worsening drought conditions and may cause officials to implement water restrictions again in the coming months.
On Tuesday, members of the state Water Resources Control Board held a meeting to discuss a proposal to implement water restrictions across the state but delayed a decision, according to the Associated Press.
This meeting comes just days after the U.S. Drought Monitor released a report showing that nearly half the state has returned to severe drought conditions.
Water restrictions were in place across California from 2013 to 2017 as extreme drought gripped the state, but the restrictions were lifted after an abundance of rain and mountain snow erased much of the drought during the winter of 2016-2017.
Some of the restrictions would include prohibitions on watering lawns, washing sidewalks, using a hose without an automatic shut-off nozzle, running an ornamental fountain without a recirculating system and watering outside within 48 hours of a good rain, according to AP.
In this Jan. 3, 2018, file photo, Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program for the Department of Water Resources, from left, accompanied by Grant Davis, director of the department, and Michelle Mead, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, leave the nearly snow barren Phillips Station snow course, after conducting the first snow survey of the season near Echo Summit, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File) This winter has been exceptionally dry across California with most areas receiving only a fraction of the precipitation that they did last winter.
“After a blockbuster snowpack winter for 2016-2017, California is once again in a snow drought,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Jesse Ferrell said.
“There are growing worries for [the] water supply picture, especially in California, but even over more of the Southwest,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Jim Andrews said.
There is still time for more snow to build up on the mountains before the water year in California comes to an end on April 1, but that time is quickly running out.
“Every drop of water saved and every suspected leak fixed will help secure our water supply,” the website says.