Southland Storms Didn't Do Much To Overcome State Drought
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Last weekend's storm in the Southland was just a drop in the bucket when it comes to overcoming the state drought.
That message came out of a Southern California Association of Governments meeting in downtown Los Angeles Thursday.
"We would really need almost a pretty significant storm every other day until May to get us back to kinda average, fill our reservoirs where they need to be," Bill Croyle, the drought manager for the California Department of Water Resources, said.
Richard Atwater of the Southern California Water Committee assembled the get-together because he believes it's important that elected leaders and those who control the water supply in California know exactly what's going on.
Asked if the state should be in panic mode, Atwater said, "Not in Southern California. If we don't conserve now and next year is dry and the year after is dry, then we'd be in panic mode."
KCAL9's Dave Lopez reported that the main message of the meeting was simple: teamwork.
"Certainly the water business is fraught with conflict; conflict over a scarce resource, but this is not time to dig in on those conflicts. This is a time to support each other," David Pedersen, the general manager of the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, said.
There was some good news from Brandon Goshi of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, however.
"We would still end up the year with a significant amount of storage reserves, so that will help us prepare for continued dry conditions," Goshi said.
Asked how long the reserves will last, Goshi said, "For more than a year."
