By Kevin Bayuk, HANC Vice-President

In 2013 California received less rain than in any year since it became a state in 1850. As you are reading this we may have experienced a rain event here in the Haight; at least a drizzle.  And, as you are aware, we are in the midst of a drought. An official Drought Emergency was declared by Governor Jerry Brown on January 17th.  What does that mean for residents of the Haight Ashbury?  Can we expect mandatory rationing?   What about water rates?  At our next general meeting on Thursday February 13th at 7:00pm at the Park Branch Library, we will host a representative from the SF Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) to share about proposed water rates increases to continue investing in San Francisco’s aging infrastructure and speak to conservation tips in light of our proposal and drought emergency.  HANC board member, Kevin Bayuk, will also share some context about coastal California climate patterns and what it might mean for future prospects for rainfall and how we, as residents, can prepare our properties and our lifestyles to be more resilient.

How bad is this drought?  You may have read that the snowpack in the Sierras is 17% of normal – and when we understand that 80% of California’s water supply comes from the mountain water from the Sierras, that’s significant. And the reservoirs that the snowmelt would be filling, and expected to fill up, are already sitting low, and are not going to get filled up, unless some dramatic storms occur, which it does not appear likely based on the long term forecast.  Because San Francisco gets over 95% its water from the Hetch Hetchy Tuolumne reservoir system fed by Sierra snowpack, immediate risks of water shortages for Haight Ashbury residents are low, but, if it stays dry, we might really feel an impact in 2015.  

Of course, there is also the possibility of much more dire circumstances if the past few years is the beginning of a longer drought.  Studies of tree rings, sediment and other natural evidence, have documented multiple droughts in California that lasted 10 or 20 years in a row during the past 1,000 years -- compared to the mere three-year duration of the current dry spell. Already, the 2013-14 rainfall season is shaping up to be the driest in 434 years, based on tree ring data, according to Lynn Ingram, a paleoclimatologist at UC Berkeley.

Even if this drought is short lived there are things we can do to our properties and to our habits and behaviors regarding water than can contribute to creating a more water resilient community.  These include installing rainwater harvesting, greywater systems, native and perennial landscaping, basic home scale conservation, repairing leaks and even more radical solutions like composting toilets. Perhaps the most important first step in taking action would be to increase our hydro-literacy.

Although many Californians think that population growth is the main driver of water demand statewide, it actually is agriculture. In an average year, farmers use 80 percent of the water consumed by people and businesses -- 34 million of 43 million acre-feet diverted from rivers, lakes and groundwater, according to the state Department of Water Resources.  While sourcing your food from farms practicing sustainable water conservation practices might be the most high leverage act we can take,  water conservation is still critical in urban areas like San Francisco, both because a precautionary approach to an uncertain climate future would advocate for retaining significant water resources for times in need, and because San Francisco’s most expensive linear asset is it’s water supply, conveyance, and treatment infrastructure.  Developed decades ago, the massive water infrastructure that utilizes the favorable geographic proximity of San Francisco to the nearby Sierra mountains needs literally billions of dollars in maintenance and repair.  Couple that with investments in diversifying water supply and reuse infrastructure and San Franciscans will likely be paying even more for water in the future than they already do compared to PUC’s wholesale customers and California agricultural users.  Come to the meeting on Thursday February 13th to hear from a SFPUC representative to learn more about what is planned in the near term and how it impacts you and your neighbors.