Officials warn of more drought

California officials are calling on residents to further curtail their water use, as the state faces another year of severe drought.

“California is well into its third year of drought, and with winter ending in a dry way, water conditions will get more challenging in coming months,” said Wade Crowfoot, secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency, at a news conference Monday in Sun Valley. “We all need to do our part to conserve water and use it efficiently, and make this our way of life.”

Conservation is especially critical in communities that rely on water from the State Water Project – including parts of San Bernardino County – which have limited local supplies and no access to Colorado River water.

“We have to make these finite supplies last the year,” Metropolitan General Manager Adel Hagekhalil said. “If we don’t cut back now, we could be limited to providing only enough water to meet health and human safety needs in these communities. That would effectively eliminate all outdoor water use.”

State residents are asked cut back on their lawn watering and, when they do water them, so early in the morning to avoid evaporation. Also, leaky sprinklers should be fixed, and sprinklers should be adjusted to prevent spraying onto sidewalks.

Conservation will figure heavily into the conversation at this year’s Southern California Water Conference. To learn more visit biabuild.com/water-conference