Item 28 - Resolution Rescinding Water Supply Shortage Level Two Declaration

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EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT STATE OF CALIFORNIA EXECUTIVE ORDER N-7-22 WHEREAS on April 12, 202 l, May l 0, 2021, July 8, 202 l, and October 19, 2021, I proclaimed states of emergency that continue today and exist across a ll the counties of California, due to extreme and expanding drought conditions; and WHEREAS climate change continues to intensify the impacts of droughts on our communities, environment, and economy, and California is in a third consecutive year of dry conditions, resulting in continuing drought in all parts of the State; and WHEREAS the 21st century to date has been characterized by record warmth and predominantly dry conditions, and the 202 1 meteorological summer in California and the rest of the western United States was the hottest on record; and WHEREAS since my October 19, 2021 Proclamation, early rains in October and December 2021 gave way to the driest January and February in recorded history for the watersheds that provide much of California's water supply; and WHEREAS the ongoing drought will have significant, immediate impacts on communities with vulnerable water supplies, farms that rely on irrigation to grow food and fiber, and fish and wildlife that rely on stream flows and cool water; and WHEREAS the two largest reservoirs of the Central Valley Project, which supplies water to farms and communities in the Central Valley and the Santa Clara Valley and provides critical cold-water habitat for salmon and other anadromous fish, have water storage levels that are approximately l .1 million acre-feet below last year's low levels on this date; and WHEREAS the record-breaking dry period in January and February and the absence of significant rains in March have required the Department of Water Resources to reduce anticipated deliveries from the State Water Project to 5 percent of requested supplies; and WHEREAS delivery of water by bottle or truck is necessary to protect human safety and public health in those places where water supplies are disrupted; and WHEREAS groundwater use accounts for 41 percent of the State's total water supply on an average annual basis but as much as 58 percent in a critically dry year, and approximately 85 percent of public water systems rely on groundwater as their primary supply; and WHEREAS coordination between loca l entities that approve permits for new groundwater wells and local groundwater sustainability agencies is important to achieving sustainable levels of groundwater in critically overdrafted basins; and