For water year 2001, cumulative amounts were only about 60-70 percent of normal through April, 2001. Rainfall for the month of May had been about normal. Water year totals are the lowest in the past 30 years. Longer term data for the four climatic divisions dating back to 1895 indicate the current water year is among the top 10 driest on record through April 2001. To put it into perspective, if the remainder of the year is characterized by below normal rainfall, similar to 1999 severity, we would see a drought equal to or more severe than that of 1953 and approaching that of 1930.
Water is a precious natural resource.
A community must first have water before it can build homes, bring in industry, build new schools, have fire protection, build shopping centers or plan for the future. Contaminating your drinking water with raw sewage, garbage, motor oil, chemicals and trash contributes to the cost of cleaning the water back to a safe level or may render the water unuseable. We recommend all water management districts consider repairing any leaks in water infrastructure. The 15-percent leakage is a best management figure. A system with 10-percent loss is losing one gallon in ten of finished water.