The Water Authority's Board of Directors today unanimously called upon the region's residents, businesses and institutions to increase water conservation efforts in response to severe drought conditions across California.

The Board formally activated the agency's Water Shortage and Drought Response Plan to preserve stored water reserves in Southern California in case dry conditions continue into next year. Additional water savings can also provide relief for other areas of the state more significantly affected by the drought by reducing the region's need for imported water. The Board also approved notifying the Water Authority's 24 member agencies that the region is at Level 1 Drought Watch of the region's Model Drought Response Ordinance. In coming weeks, member agencies will consider what specific actions are necessary for their communities.

The Water Authority is collaborating with its 24 member agencies to increase regional awareness of the need for additional water conservation. The Water Authority plans to fund outreach efforts using part of a $1 million state Drought Response and Outreach Program grant.

The Water Authority is not anticipating cutbacks to its imported water supplies this year that would trigger mandatory supply cutbacks to its member agencies. The region's improved water supply reliability is the result of adequate reservoir storage in Southern California and two decades of investments by the San Diego region to diversify its water supply sources. These measures include securing water transfers that are part of the historic 2003 Colorado River Quantification Settlement Agreement. The Water Authority-Imperial Irrigation District water conservation and transfer agreement and related canal-lining projects will provide 180,000 acre-feet of highly reliable supplies to the San Diego region this year, more than double the amount they provided at the start of the last drought in 2007. (An acre-foot is about 325,900 gallons, enough to meet the needs of two average single-family households of four people for a year.)