Thursday December 2, 2021
San Francisco Chronicle —
California water officials acknowledged Wednesday that another painful year of drought is likely, and warned the many communities receiving water from the State Water Project that they may get no water at all next year, except in cases of emergency.
The record low 0% water allocation would leave parts of the state, including San Jose, much of the East Bay and Napa County, with significant dents in their water supplies. Local water agencies would have little choice but to seek out additional sources of water, which are certain to be sparse, as well as lean heavily on customers to make cuts — even more so than they’re already doing.
“If it starts to look worse, we will have to call for more conservation,” said Valerie Pryor, general manager of the Tri-Valley’s Zone 7 Water Agency, which last summer mandated a 15% water reduction across its service area of Livermore, Pleasanton and Dublin. The agency usually gets more than two-thirds of its water from the state.