California restricts water as snowpack survey finds 'no snow whatsoever'

The governor of California has ordered unprecedented and mandatory water restrictions in the state as officials conducted a regular measurement of the Sierra Nevada snowpack and found “no snow whatsoever” amid the state’s ongoing drought.

“This was the first time in 75 years of early-April measurements at the Phillips snow course that no snow was found there,” the California Department of Water Resources said in a statement on Wednesday at the conclusion of a survey attended by the Governor Jerry Brown. It said readings from Wednesday put the state’s level of water content at just 5% of the historical average for the date.

“Today’s survey underscores the severity of California’s drought,” said DWR director Mark Cowin. “Water conservation must become a way of life during the worst drought in most Californians’ lifetimes.”

Brown on Wednesday ordered the State Water Resources Control Board to reduce statewide water use by 25%. The action – the first time ever state officials have imposed mandatory water restrictions – is expected to save 1.5m acre-feet of water by the year’s end.

Experts say a massive response is needed to confront California’s punishing dry spell, now languishing into a fourth year and exacerbated by scorching temperatures.

Saying “a distinct possibility exists that the current drought will stretch into a fifth straight year in 2016 and beyond,” Brown’s order requires city and town water suppliers to reduce per capita usage.

Brown’s order would also:

• prohibit watering ornamental grass on public street medians;
• require new homes to use water-efficient drip irrigation system for landscaping;
  
• direct urban water agencies to set up a new pricing structure to maximize water conservation;
• require urban water and agricultural agencies to report more water usage information to the state.
  

“It’s a different world,” Brown said. “We have to act differently.”

Brown made the announcement while standing on a patch of brown grass in the Sierra Nevada, which would have historically been covered in snow.

“This historic drought demands unprecedented action,” Brown said in a statement. “Therefore, I’m issuing an executive order mandating substantial water reductions across our state. As Californians, we must pull together and save water in every way possible.”

The 1 April snowpack survey is an important indicator of the amount of water the state will have in its reservoirs as the state’s wet historically wet season winds down. “In what were considered normal precipitation years, the snowpack supplied about 30 percent of California’s water needs as it melts in the spring and summer,” the DWR said in a statement on Wednesday.

California relies on a few big storms during the winter months to drop snow on California’s mountain ranges. During the spring and summer months the snowpack melts and fills the state’s reservoirs. Historically, 1 April marked peak snowpack for the year. This year, the mountain runoff will be just a trickle.

David Rizzardo, chief of snow surveys for the California Department of Water Resources, said the previous driest condition on the 1 April was 25%, which occurred in 2014 and 1977.

“We’re not only setting a new low, we’re completely obliterating the previous record,” he said on a conference call with reporters. “And this is the supply of 30% of the state’s fresh water.”

To conduct the survey, the state’s water agency dispatches researchers to measure the level of snow manually at 250 separate sites in the Sierra Nevada, Rizzardo said. Additionally, the survey includes readings from 130 automated snow sensors. An official count will be released on Wednesday afternoon.

Last week, Brown signed into law a more-than-$1bn plan to fast-track emergency relief to drought-stricken cities and communities, including food aid and drinking water. The proposal also includes hundreds of millions of dollars to fund long-term projects, involving water recycling, conservation awareness and flood control projects. At the signing, Brown said the plan was part of a wider effort to prepare California for an “uncertain future”.

The package followed action by the state water board this month to pass what has been described as the most restrictive water conservation measures in state history. The plan limits the number of days residents can water their yards, and requires bars and restaurants to ask customers if they would like a glass of water before serving it.