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Water Officials Worried Now About Next Year

Southern California is suffering through a severe dry spell. San Diego is headed for its fourth driest year on record. Los Angeles is headed for its driest year ever. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce says water

Water Officials Worried Now About Next Year

Southern California is suffering through a severe dry spell. San Diego is headed for its fourth driest year on record. Los Angeles is headed for its driest year ever. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce says water agencies are asking us to conserve.

The region's dry spell has water agencies renewing the call for us to conserve. The tips should sound familiar by now: stop over-watering plants, take shorter showers, don't use a hose to wash down the driveway and fix those leaky faucets.

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Jeff Kightlinger is the General Manager for the Metropolitan Water District , which supplies most of the region's water. He says supplies are adequate to weather a long, hot summer. But he worries about next year.

Kightlinger : The Colorado River is less than 50 percent full, all of its storage, so that is definitely worrisome. This year we've had a very dry year in Northern California, which is Metropolitan's other significant source of supply. So hopefully it's just a dry year and not the signal of a -- the beginning of a statewide drought.

He says the more water we can conserve now, the better supply will be going forward. Many forecasters predict that dry, warm conditions will continue into next year.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.