SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- When it comes to water, San Diego County faces a couple of problems -- persistent drought and a deep water year deficit.
National Weather Service numbers show San Diego has only received about half of the rainfall it normally expects annually.
The water year is a way of measuring annual rainfall without breaking up the winter. It runs from Oct. 1 to Sep. 30, so San Diego’s current water year started last fall.
A full water year for San Diego brings an average of almost 10 inches of rain.
The National Weather Service said San Diego should have received just over 9 inches of rain so far. But up to this point, the region has received just 4.19 inches. That means we have a gap, called a “deficit,” of almost 5 inches.
It’s part of the reason most of the county is still suffering from severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The latest update at 5:30 a.m. Thursday shows 100% of San Diego County still faces severe drought. Parts of the East County in primarily desert communities are even worse off, with “extreme” drought.
When drought gets this severe, the U.S. Drought Monitor said communities start running into problems with things like agriculture, water costs and reservoir levels.
Severe drought also highly increases the likelihood of wildfires, especially as we head towards the summer.
Despite all of that, the San Diego County Water Authority said there’s no reason for San Diegans to worry about running out of water.
“We started planning decades before some of the other agencies across the state did,” said Efren Lopez, Senior Water Resources Specialist for the San Diego County Water Authority. “And when we have years like this where we have less than 50% of our normal rainfall, it doesn’t really have an impact on how much water we can use on a day-to-day basis.”
The agency says it’s been preparing for years with pieces of infrastructure like one of the largest desalination plants in the country, which pumps out 50 million gallons of water daily.
So even if San Diego’s rainfall is behind schedule, you shouldn’t count on your tap running dry any time soon.
