Water Shortages

People who say that nothing's harder to get rid of than a bad penny must never have met Keith Brackpool. The British-born promoter, who has spent the last dozen years pushing a scheme to pump water to Southern California from beneath 35,000 acres his Cadiz Inc. owns in the Mojave Desert, just won't go away.

During a prolonged drought in the early 1990s, L.A.'s Department of Water and Power and Department of Public Works conducted an ambitious experiment. In eight homes, including those of several elected officials, they installed "gray water" equipment that diverted the outflows from washing machines, showers, bathtubs and bathroom sinks to irrigate lawns and gardens outside the homes.

For the second time in a month, state water managers are upping the amount of water they say they will deliver to Central and Southern California this year. The State Water Project, which supplies about a third of Southern California's water, increased allocations on Thursday from 20% to 30% of contractor requests. The final allocation decision will be made in May. The dire drought predictions of early winter yielded to less gloomy projections after February and March brought much-needed storms to the Sierra Nevada and northern sectors of the state.

With California's budget crisis resolved for the moment, state lawmakers Thursday turned their attention to another emergency: a three-year drought that has left key reservoirs at 35% of capacity. Legislators stepped forward with plans to ask voters to borrow as much as $15 billion for projects to expand and improve the state's water supply. "This is the session to aggressively solve California's water challenges," Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said Thursday.

Last March, after a series of cold winter storms, the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada was above normal. That seemed to be good news for the state's water supply, which relies heavily on Sierra Nevada snow. But after a record heat wave in the early spring, it was as if the winter's big storms had never happened. Only about 40% of the snow's water content -- far less than usual -- ended up in rivers and reservoirs.

In a blow to the state's producers of almonds and other crops, federal officials announced Friday that they may not be able to provide water for the upcoming growing season in parts of the Central Valley. To cope with the continuing drought, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will not provide water for agriculture beginning in March to at least 200 local water districts in that region, agency spokeswoman Lynnette Wirth said.

On Monday, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa proposed accelerated water restrictions for Los Angeles -- and the city got about a third of an inch of rain. In the past, showers were considered bad luck for a conservation push, but these days they are a fitting backdrop. We may get a rainy day here or there, but Angelenos must learn to treat today's drought conditions as the new normal.

Even with the recent batch of rainstorms, the ongoing drought has grown so severe that Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday called for increased citywide water restrictions and the adoption of a tiered water rate that would punish Department of Water and Power customers who fail to conserve. Sprinkler use would be restricted to two days a week under the proposal and, by summer, could be cut to one day a week if the drought continues, Villaraigosa said.

Already-scarce water gets even scarcer this weekend for millions of Mexicans. One of the world's largest cities is launching a rationing plan in a drastic -- and some say overdue -- effort to conserve water after rampant development, mismanagement and reduced rainfall caused supplies to drop to dangerously low levels. Starting Saturday, water will be cut or reduced to homes in at least 10 boroughs in Mexico City plus 11 other municipalities in the state of Mexico, which surrounds the capital.