With Lake Cachuma, Santa Barbara County’s main water supply, now reaching critical levels, county officials stood on the lake’s shore on Friday, February 14 to urge people to conserve water.
Joined by other officials on the shore of Lake Cachuma, Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Mike Dyer speaks at a news conference Friday to urge the public to conserve water. The lake is at less than 40 percent capacity. (Lara Cooper / Noozhawk photo)
Lake Cachuma normally has more than 190,000 acre feet of water when full but is now down to 74,000 acre feet, less than 40 percent capacity. Other sources of water are limited:
> Jameson Lake is now at less than one-third its capacity… its lowest level since 1990
> The State Water Project may only provide a 20% allocation this year
> Surplus water supplies are nearly exhausted
The county is urging people to begin a voluntary conservation of at least 20 percent of their water usage, and tips for how to do that can be found at WaterWiseSB.org.