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LOS ANGELES-Southern Californians, fond of their private pools, golf courses, garden sprinklers and the ubiquitous car wash, are being urged to reform their water-guzzling ways after the region's driest year on record. A mere 3.2 inches of rain -- less than a quarter as much as usual -- fell on downtown Los Angeles in the year beginning on July 1, 2006, the lowest since records began 130 years ago.A hot summer of short showers is forecast to follow.Rainfall totals were little better in other nearby cities, something experts say is a reminder that current water consumption levels seem unsustainable.The water sources hundreds of miles away that transformed Los Angeles from a semi-arid town 100 years ago into the nation's second-largest city are also shrinking."We have a system that is at risk, especially if we continue to have population growth, putting people in dry places and figuring a way to overcome local water limits," said David Carle, author of "Water and the California Dream."Local water sources would support a population of about 3 million in southern California. Yet 18 million people now live here.The Eastern Sierra mountains, from where Los Angeles gets about half of its water supply, had its second-lowest snowpack on record this year. The Colorado River, whose waters are piped in via a 242-mile (389-km) aqueduct, is in its eighth year of drought.Mandatory cuts are not envisaged for now, but officials have urged homeowners to cut water usage by about 10 percent, or 20 gallons a day."We have spent years preparing for years like this," said Andy Sienkiewich, resource implementation manager at the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California, which serves some 18 million people."We have built up substantial water storage reserves, both underground and in surface water reservoirs. We have also invested heavily in waste water recycling and water conservation measures," Sienkiewich said.
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As in the days of Noah....
