What does this water gauge mean to Glendale?
The above gauge provided by the Metropolitan Water District shows our
current California water reserve levels. It will be updated monthly to
show you the present conditions. You will also see this gauge in upcoming
television commercials, news stations, and weather reports and hear about
it in radio advertising spots. We encourage you to do your part to conserve.
Below is more detailed information on the water gauge, and why it’s vital
for us to know our current water reserve level information.
For information on conservation access
our water
tips page, Water
Conservation Guide or visit www.bewaterwise.com for more tips.
Glendale Water & Power purchases 70% of our water from the Metropolitan Water
District (MWD). The Metropolitan Water District imports water from the Colorado
River and from Northern California through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and
delivers it to its 26 member agencies, including Glendale.
A federal court has curtailed water deliveries from northern California due to
environmental factors in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. And, after a record
dry spring that dramatically curtailed snow runoff from the Sierra Nevada mountains,
Governor Schwarzenegger declared an official statewide drought on June 4, 2008.
Following the Governor’s action, all local member agencies were instructed to adopt
and implement water conservation ordinances and to significantly increase efforts
and programs to conserve water. The Colorado River, the other major source of
imported supplies for Metropolitan, has experienced drought conditions for eight
of the last nine years.
Since the drought in the late 1980s and early 1990s, MWD enacted a plan to improve
water supplies during dry conditions. The Integrated Resources Plan called for
increasing MWD’s ability to store wet-year surplus supplies from the Colorado River
and Northern California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The goal has been to increase reserves. As of 2007, enough water in reserve was
available to help MWD withstand up to three successive dry years. Worsening
environmental conditions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta now challenge MWD’s
ability to replenish reserves in wet years. Prolonged dry conditions in California
have reduced available supplies. Metropolitan has tapped its reserves to maintain
deliveries to its 26 member agencies. But the reserves are not unlimited. With
water uncertainties facing Southern California, the challenge ahead is to lower
demand and stretch our reserve supplies as much as possible.