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. ...... '- J."lJ How Much Water Do Californians Use? by J'~, Da.ac~.a In 1980, the IX>pa:-:ment of Waler Re. sources estlmaled net water use at 338 mil. lion acre-feet. This was expecled to increase to 37.3 million acrdeet by 20lO The inClease may be even greater than expected. since the state's populalJOn is growing faster than projected, California's population IS now 26,981.000-rapldly approaching 27 million California is the nation's leader lfl agriC'..lI. tural productIOn. The Departmenl of Water Resources eSllmales lhat In 1980 lhe land l!1 cuItrvation was 9 5 million acres, growmg at least 200 commercial crops Agncullure uses 85 percent of !he developed water used in !he stale A family of live uses about I acre-foot of water per year for ail ItS domestic needs, indudmg landscapmg and washIng cars, An additional 25 acre-feet of water is the esll' mated amoun! needed 10 grow food for that family for a year, accordlngtoa study done althe Unrversity of Cahfomia. Berlreley Other water uses lnclude power production. process and cooling waler for mdustnal uses, landscape imgation. fish and wildlif... habilat and recreation. , .. 'l .::"-~~ I...... How Much Water Is Available? In a normal year, Califonua leceives nearly 200 million acre.feel of precipilallon, most of it north of Sacramento About 65 percent is lost to evaporauon. deep percola- ~ion, and transpiration by plants, The remairung 71 million acre,feel makes up the long term average statewide runoff. which finds its way mlo our livers. streams. reser. voirs, and ground water basms to malre up the usable water supply This supply is unpredIctable because of changes m the weather, and Nnoff has ranged from as hIliI' as 15 m:lJion acre.feel in 1976- 77 to more than 135 million acre.feel in 1982-83 There IS about 250 million am,.feel of reachabli water in !he state's 350 ground wat...r baslOS In some basins. water is bemg used more rapldty!hanilis bemg recharged About 40 percent of CaHorrua's watet su;:ply comes from ground waler. but the proportion increases when drought con- dillonshm:t ava~able surfacewaUr Normal storage m California's major reseNO::S is about 28 million acre-feet of .....ater Mllst rainfall IS limited 10 the months of Octobe: through Apnl. so !tttle replerush- mentofthe reservoirs OCCUIS after the sno..... melt in May and June. v..nile Cahfornia's total water supply IS adequate for mosl of the stale's needs in normal years. the biggesl problem is one of dlstributlon About 7S percent of the ramfall occurs north of Sacramento. but approXl- malely 75 percent of the state's popu]ahon IS m the area south of Sacramento, The greatest water needs fOlagncullure and landscape lTngation occur in Ihe dry summn months. while mOSl of the ramfall comes dunng lhe '.'Imler To deal WIth the problems of gettmg water .....here and when It was needed.;I.-"ilter plannns developed conveyan(e and storage systems In California that move more water fanher thaI) anyNtter.. else in the world Because of these major water projects and the system of waler fights that has evolved in the slate, It is a complex neT'J.'Orlr of water supply lhat bnngs water to you: lap -