The announcement does not mean that communities will have no drinking water this summer. Rather, it signifies that every region is largely on its own now, and will have to rely on water stored in local reservoirs, pumped from underground wells, recycled water, conservation and other ways to satisfy demand.
"Today's action is a stark reminder that California's drought is real," said Gov. Jerry Brown. "We're taking every possible step to prepare the state for the continuing dry conditions we face."
The decision will be re-evaluated every month and could change if California sees significant rainfall in February, March and April, state water officials said.
Still, the news highlighted in a breathtaking way how California is in uncharted territory this year when it comes to droughts. Last year was the driest year in the state's recorded history back to 1850. The Sierra Nevada snow pack is at 15 percent of normal, even after a storm this week. And January set more records for lack of rainfall. The state is currently in its driest period since 1580 -- more than 150 years before George Washington was born, according to one scientist at the University of California-Berkeley who studies tree rings and other historic drought markers.
The State Water Project, approved by voters in 1960 and built by former Gov. Pat Brown, is a massive system of 21 dams and 701 miles of pipes and canals that moves water from Northern California to the south. It essentially takes melting snow from the Sierra Nevada, captures it, and transports it from Lake Oroville in Butte County through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta all the way to San Diego. In doing so, it provides drinking water for 23 million people from Silicon Valley to the Los Angeles basin and irrigates about 750,000 acres of farmland.
In November, officials at the state Department of Water Resources announced that summer water deliveries from the project would be only 5 percent of the amount that the farms and cities who buy water from the project have under contract. By comparison, they delivered 35 percent last year and 65 percent in 2012.
Even that proved to be too optimistic.
"Simply put, there's not enough water in the system right now for customers to expect any water this season from the project," said Mark Cowin, director of the state Department of Water Resources.
There are 29 water districts in California that receive State Water Project water, including the Santa Clara Valley Water District, the Metropolitan Water District in Los Angeles and the Alameda County Water District.
Most affected by Friday's news are roughly 200,000 residents of Livermore, Pleasanton, Dublin and part of San Ramon who are under the authority of the Zone 7 Water Agency, which receives 80 percent of its water each year from the State Water Project.
By pumping more groundwater this year, the district will have sufficient water to meet basic health and safety needs, said board president Bill Stevens. But reductions for other purposes may be necessary, he said. The agency is currently building two new wells to meet demand, and owners of some vineyards in the area are concerned that water shortages could damage their crops.
Another 330,000 residents of Fremont, Newark and Union City receive 40 percent of their water from the State Water Project.
"It's a big deal. We're taking it very seriously," said Robert Shaver, assistant general manager of the Alameda County Water District. "Our planning is based on 1977, which had been the worst year ever. This year is worse."
Shaver said the district will pump more groundwater, buy more water from the Hetch Hetchy system and already has asked residents for 20 percent conservation, as has the Zone 7 Agency.
Other Bay Area communities are not affected because they receive no State Water Project water. They include Marin County, Santa Cruz County, and customers of the East Bay Municipal Utility District and the Contra Costa Water District. Also not affected are the 2.6 million residents served by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission in San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Alameda County, who receive Hetch Hetchy water.
Meanwhile Friday, state and federal officials also announced that they will withhold water from three reservoirs in the northern part of the state that normally would be released to provide fresh water for salmon, smelt and other fish in the Delta.
"The harsh weather leaves us little choice," said Cowin. "If we are to have any hope of coping with continued dry weather and balancing multiple needs, we must act now to preserve what water remains in our reservoirs."
The release of that fresh water also helps reduce salinity in the Delta, ensuring better quality drinking water for the Bay Area and other regions.
Those three reservoirs -- Oroville, Shasta and Folsom -- are now releasing a combined 5,050 cubic feet per second for fish and drinking water quality. They will continue doing that, but will not release an additional 2,000 cubic feet per second as had been originally planned.
"This is not about picking between fish and farms or people and the environment," said Chuck Bonham, of the state Department of Fish and Game. "It is about making really hard decisions on a real-time basis where we might have to accept some impacts now."
State officials also announced Friday that they will curtail 5,800 junior water rights holders in the Central Valley from diverting water from streams. Farmers and farm water districts are mostly affected. In many cases, they can pump groundwater to make up the difference. But the news means an already disastrous year for farmers is now even worse.
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