NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – State officials are preparing to roll out the first-ever statewide mandatory water reductions as part of a larger effort to deal with the ongoing drought and encourage Californians to adopt a conservation way of life.

Following a Wednesday morning snowpack survey that showed no snow on the ground in the Sierras, Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order requiring Californians to conserve 25 percent more water as the state heads into its fourth year of drought.

That follows an executive order Brown issued last year requiring 20-percent conservation.

Several state officials, members of the Governor's Drought Task Force, told reporters in a Wednesday afternoon teleconference that they're immediately beginning efforts to implement the new emergency drought conservation requirements.

Locally, Lake County Special Districts – which manages water and sewer facilities in several communities around Lake County – had already begun receiving communications from the state on the new rules.

Special Districts Compliance Manager Jan Coppinger told Lake County News on Wednesday that she was still going through the state messages, so it was too early to try to determine what the possible impacts would be for their local users.

Coppinger said mandatory conservation is in effect in several Special Districts-run systems – Bonanza Springs, Mount Hannah, Paradise Valley, Spring Valley and Starview – and has remained so since the Board of Supervisors approved those measures last year.

The rest of the water districts administered by the agency are under voluntary conservation, per the first stage of the Special Districts drought plan, she said.

Every one of Special Districts' water systems is showing at least 20-percent conservation compared to the same time last year, said Coppinger.

“Some of them are actually exceeding 40-percent conservation,” said Coppinger, recognizing the efforts of the agency's customers.

But that level of water conservation hasn't been the norm in the rest of the state, resulting in Gov. Brown's latest directive.

The Governor's Drought Task Force includes Chuck Bonham, director, California Department of Fish and Wildlife; Mark Cowin, director, California Department of Water Resources; Mark Ghilarducci, director, California Office of Emergency Services; Felicia Marcus, chair, State Water Resources Control Board; Karen Ross, secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture; Robert B. Weisenmiller, chair, California Energy Commission.

Ghilarducci said the snowpack measurement confirmed what people already knew. “This really spells out the fact that the situation is unprecedented and critical,” and requires an “all-hands-on-deck approach.”

He said the drought has taken its toll on cities, farms and the natural environment, and the state has taken steps to make sure water is available for human health and safety, growing food, fire safety, and protecting fish and wildlife, while helping impacted families pay bills, buy food and have water to drink.

When the governor previously sought 20 percent conservation, people didn't step up. “This year has to be different,” said Ghilarducci. “We are at a critical state and conservation will be paramount.”

Cowin said that in normal years the Sierra snowpack accounts for about 15 million acre feet of storage. This year, it's at 6 percent of normal. “That big reservoir is nearly empty.”

That means the state is confined to the water it has in storage as well as continued reliance on groundwater. “The delicate balancing act that we have endeavored to pursue over the last few years continue and only gets harder over time,” Cowin said.

Cowin said efforts will include working to replace 50 million square feet of ornamental lawns statewide with drought tolerant landscaping, updating a model landscape ordinance for housing developments and strengthening the agricultural management planning process.

They also are considering the need for rock salinity barriers that would be installed in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta to prevent salt water from getting into freshwater and limit upstream releases in order to manage salinity.

It was reported during the briefing that the state had considered installing the salinity barriers last year, but didn't go forward with it thanks to late spring rains. The barriers do come with impacts to fish, Cowin acknowledged, as well as to water users on the wrong side of the barriers.

He said the executive order will provide some “regulatory streamlining” for the salinity barriers. A decision on whether to install them will be made this month, with construction to go forward in May if the state decides they're needed.

Because of the state's extreme drought, Marcus said new actions are necessary. The voluntary measures in effect since last summer “haven't really provided us with the water savings that the situation now clearly warrants.”

The target, Marcus said, is 25 percent savings in urban water use. She said the state will be setting targets that take into consideration current per capita water use and coming up with a sliding scale so that those who already have been conserving and using less will have different requirements.

“A number of agencies are going to have to step up mightily compared to where they’ve been,” she said.

If it doesn't rain in the next year, Marcus said Californians may find themselves in a more “Australian-style millennium drought.”

She said water pricing is among the most important tools for water conservation, and the state will be working with water suppliers to direct water conservation rate structures. There will be some challenges, she said, based on Proposition 218, which sets certain requirements for raising utility rates.

Marcus said the state also is making permanent its existing rules on requiring urban water suppliers to report usage, rates and enforcement. That reporting, said Marcus, will help the state stay on track with its conservation goals.

Weisenmiller said the California Energy Commission is putting in place a statewide appliance rebate program, will help replace inefficient household water fixtures, implement a water energy technology program and consider mitigation measures as to where energy plants source their water.

Ross detailed the impacts on agriculture, including last year’s fallowing of 460,000 acres, primarily in the Central Valley, the loss of 17,000 farmworker jobs and $1.5 billion in losses.

With a zero allocation from the federal Central Valley Project and 20 percent from the State Water Project, Ross anticipated even more significant losses in the year to come, including hundreds of thousands of more acres to be fallowed and crops – primarily trees – to be pulled out.

“It's farm and wage income that is not going to be spent in these local, little communities that are especially dependent on the agriculture community,” said Ross.

She said the agriculture industry has made great strides water conservation, reducing water usage overall by 5 percent while seeing a 90-percent gain in economic activity and yields.

For that reason, Gov. Brown's emergency legislation last year and last week is making further investments in agricultural energy and water efficiency projects. The first round of funding is expected to save more than 317,000 acre feet of water over the life of the projects, Ross said.

Bonham pointed to the impact the drought is having across all agencies and industries.

“Drought is impacting all of us. It’s not about people or the environment, fish or the farmers. The task before us is, how do we make it through this together,” Bonham said.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has been conducting surveys of smelt in the Bay Delta for nearly 50 years. This fall and winter they found the smallest number of delta smelt they had ever seen, and the second-lowest number for longfin smelt, according to Bonham.

Then, this spring, they found the lowest number of delta smelt in a spring count – six. That's compared to 88 counted last year, Bonham said.

At the same time, Bonham said they saw in 2014 a 95-percent mortality rate in the winter Chinook salmon fishery on the upper Sacramento River, which means a potential collapse in the winter run spawning stock.

The drought also is impacting other wildlife. This year, as winter drew to a close, Fish and Wildlife received about 100 calls in a weeklong period and moved 10 bears out of downtown Bakersfield, Bonham said.

“If you care about fish and wildlife, every drop of water that we can save may be the drop of water that makes a difference and gives a fighting chance” to the species struggling to survive, Bonham said.

Ghilarducci said the California Office of Emergency Services will coordinate the state response in implementing the drought response strategies.

Among the measures the state is prepared to take is providing assistance for those who need to move from homes where the water source has gone dry, he said.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.