The recent rainfall and the potential of another storm over the upcoming weekend make this a great time for San Diegans to shut off their automatic lawn sprinklers, San Diego County Water Authority officials said Tuesday.
"While these rainstorms are welcome, they will not break the serious drought conditions that exist statewide, and we need to continue to take advantage of these opportunities to reduce our use as much as possible," said Mark Weston, chairman of the water authority's board of directors.
"My thanks go out to everyone in the region who has been taking steps to save more water these last few months, and I encourage everyone to keep it up," he said.
Area residents have cut back on water use by nearly 30 percent in each of the last two months, compared to the same period the previous year, according to water officials.
The 2015 allocation from the State Water Project — an important source for San Diego County — is set at only 15 percent of requested supplies, according to the water authority. The figure may fluctuate up or down depending on precipitation over the next few months.
Meanwhile, water officials said the water content of snow in the northern Sierra Nevada is about 20 percent of its historical average. State officials said it would take heavy precipitation and cooler temperatures over the next three months for California to begin recovering from drought.
The water authority said the San Diego region's largest supplier, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, might cut back on water deliveries this year if conditions don't improve quickly.
The impact of the reductions would be partially offset by transfers from the Colorado River and the Carlsbad Desalination Project — which could begin producing drinking water this fall — but the need for conservation will still continue, according to the water authority.
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