In just the last two years,
and despite an average rainfall year in 2006, water stored behind
Casitas Dam has dropped more than 8 percent, from 250,656 acre-feet
to 229,735, records show. Casitas Reservoir is still about 90 percent
full, but Merckling noted that declines accelerate sharply if dry
years repeat.
For example, the reservoir, which filled to overflowing at 256,000
acre feet after the big rains of 1998, had dropped to about 180,000
by 2004. And during the late 1980s, the reservoir fell from nearly
full in 1986 to about 152,000 acre-feet in 1991.
Lake Casitas was built so large as a hedge against long-term drought.
But Merckling said agency projections now show an annual deficit of
360 acre-feet between what goes into the lake and what is taken out
during dry periods.
An acre-foot of water is 43,560 cubic feet, or the quantity that would
cover an acre 1 foot deep. An acre-foot supplies the needs of two
families for a year in an urban setting, or one family in a rural
setting, where more water is used on irrigation.
A water shortfall would have an impact not just on residents and farmers
served directly by Casitas, Merckling said, but on customers of 16
other local agencies to which Casitas sells water, including the Golden
State Water Company in Ojai, the Meiners Oaks County Water District,
the Ventura County Water District and the city of Ventura.
In all, the district provides water for about 65,000 people and nearly
5,700 acres of farmland in the Ojai Valley and Ventura.
“The water district needs to work together with the community
to conserve water,” Merckling said. “We’re one of
the few districts in Southern California (to be so vulnerable), because
we rely on local water.”
Casitas has begun offering rebates for old clothes washers and toilets,
kicking back $150 toward the purchase of highly efficient ones. A
$100 rebate is also available on low-flush toilets, which use 1.6
gallons per flush compared with 1.2 gallons for the high efficiency
models.
Casitas already had provided free shower heads and faucet aerators
and free toilet flappers.
It is also considering rebates to encourage purchase of weather-based
irrigation control systems, which would adjust irrigation depending
on rain and wind.
“That could drastically reduce consumption,” Merckling
said.
To save more water, local farmers are also being encouraged to participate
this summer in an Agricultural Water Audit Program, sponsored by Casitas
and a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation grant. Irrigation efficiency will
be tested and improvements recommended.
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