When temperatures rise, so does water use. People turn on their faucets and sprinklers to beat the heat.
But last week was extreme. San Diego County experienced some of its driest and hottest temperatures ever for May.
On top of that was water used to extinguish 11 Santa Ana wind-whipped wildfires that scorched 26,000 tinder-dry acres across the county.
Hundreds of firefighters on the ground doused flames with hoses connected to fire hydrants or tanker trucks. In the air, helicopters dropped 300-900 gallons at a time; bigger air tankers released up to 3,000 gallons, one after another.
"The aerial tankers, they dip their buckets into local reservoirs and we’re there to support them in their activities," said Ken Weinberg, director of water resources with the San Diego County Water Authority. "The role we play is making sure if they need water for fire suppression that water’s available."
Weinberg said water use was up 1,000 acre-feet over the previous week, which is approximately what 2,000 families use in a year.
"We'd say maybe about half of that or less was attributable to firefighting," explained Weinberg.
"Fire events are short in duration," Weinberg added. "They result in a spike in water use, but there’s plenty of water in the region to support firefighting activities through the whole fire season.
Cal Fire Capt. Kendal Bortisser said firefighters are urged to use all the water necessary to knock down flames, but to keep drought conditions at the forefront of their minds.
"Water conservation is always of utmost concern," said Bortisser. "We are in a drought, so we certainly don’t want to be wasting water and I think the crews on the ground -- they try to conserve as best as they can as do our air resources."
San Diego is in the grips of an extreme drought with rainfall deficits less than half of normal. Water Authority officials assure there’s plenty of water in storage for this year, but they urge everyone to conserve.
"We all need to pull together so that we can face whatever we’re going to face this fire season and into next year if it continues to be dry," said Weinberg.
The San Diego County Water Authority recently unveiled a new campaign called "When In Drought," to encourage additional voluntary water conservation and inform residents of current water supply conditions.
