Drought is a major concern and complex issue for California water suppliers and residents alike. According to the National Integrated Drought Information System, more than 85% of California is currently in a state of extreme drought, with more than 1,500 reservoirs reporting water levels 50% lower than normal at this time of year. Governor Gavin Newsom has responded by designating a state of emergency for 50 counties, aiming to regulate water use and enforce conservation efforts.

Responding to droughts in a way that balances quality of life for local residents with regulatory requirements, uncertainty, and revenue impacts is challenging for water suppliers. EKI’s Drought Response Tool (DRT) is a planning tool that helps visualize and target savings opportunities and can support adaptive implementation of your Water Shortage Contingency Plan (WSCP). By simply entering your agency information and selecting drought response actions, the DRT estimates water savings potential by end-use, sector, and total water savings for suites of user-specified drought response actions, and accounts for demand hardening that may have occurred since the last drought.

Ask EKI’s water resource team how our quantitative, Excel-based model can provide confidence in your projected water savings during this unprecedented drought.