LAKE COUNTY >> With an early spring season peaking through generally sparse clouds, it appears the mid-December downpour is nearly all Lake County”s rainy season could muster this season.
Compared with December”s 13.21 inches of rainfall as measured near Lakeport, January has seen just .15 inches, according to National Weather Service Meterologist Craig Shoemaker.
The average water year for the area, as recorded from 1981 and measured between Oct. 1 and Sept. 30, brings about 31 inches. Since Oct. 1, Lake County has only received 18.53 inches.
No significant rainfall is on the horizon either, although some very light showers are expected this afternoon. The next major system won”t be approaching until sometime in February, Shoemaker said.
Looking forward to another dry year, the State Water Resources Control Board has already sent a notice to water right holders explaining curtailments could be more wide-sweeping this year.
Previously, notices to curtail water usage were issued to all post-1914 water right holders in the Sacramento-San Joaquin, Russian and Eel River watersheds on May 27. Most recently, curtailments in the Sacramento-San Joaquin watershed, in which Lake County sits, were temporarily lifted on Nov. 19.
While December”s weather system, nicknamed the “Pineapple Express” for its Hawaiian origins, brought a much-needed dousing to Northern California, it wasn”t nearly enough to make much more than a small dent in long-term drought conditions. Now January has brought less than an inch of rain to the region and February”s forecasts aren”t promising either.
“If hydrologic conditions do not significantly improve in the next several months, the State Water Board will once again begin notifying water right holders ? of the requirement to limit or stop diversions of water under their water right,” the board”s notice reads.
It also warns some more senior riparian and pre-1914 water right holders aren”t immune from the board”s regulations either and “can also receive a notice to stop diverting water based on their priority or limitation of natural flow.”
The notice urges water right holders to look into additional conservation measures and alternative water supplies. Planting and planning decisions should be made in light of possible curtailment of junior rights, it advises.
The decision to issue curtailments is based on the board”s assessment of the amount of water needed by water right holders in critical watersheds in addition to the amount of available and projected supplies allotted to senior water right holders. Gauging system data, forecasted conditions, water demand and public trust need are all taken into consideration, according to the board”s website.
In the past, the water board has made significant curtailments of water rights in the years of 1976-77 and 1987-88.
Those partaking in unauthorized diversions of water could be subject to a fine of $1,000 a day plus $2,500 per acre foot of illegally diverted water.
Meanwhile, the water board is also keeping track of conservation efforts throughout the state.
Numbers from the northern half of the state are more promising than those down south. The Sacramento River hydrologic region decreased water use by 25.6 percent in November compared to the same time in 2013. But the South Coast hydrologic region “mildly improved” with 3.2 percent water conservation, the board”s January report states.
On the other hand, Lake County Office of Emergency Services Manager Marisa Chilafoe told the Board of Supervisors the North Coast Hydrologic Region that includes Lake County reduced water consumption by 12 percent, which is still short of Gov. Jerry Brown”s 20-percent reduction request.
For the rest of the rainy season, Shoemaker describes predictions to be resting at equal chances; it could be wetter or drier than the historical average but there”s nothing to indicate one situation is more likely than the other.
