Bill Croyle of California Department of Water Resources led a seminar, "Managing the State Water Project During a Drought," on June 9 at the American Water Works Association's Annual Conference and Exposition, held at Anaheim Convention Center.

Dealing with drought is a topic many landscape professionals have dealt with the past few years. Experts at the American Water Works Association's Annual Conference and Exposition shared their findings about California's most recent drought. The conference was held at Anaheim Convention Center.

East Bay Municipal Water Utility District's Eileen White shared her expertise with the seminar, "Drought Response by a Northern California Water Utility."

"East Bay MUD relies on the snow melt from the eastern Sierra Mountains to flow into the Mokelmne River," said White. "The reservoirs are only at 25 percent capacity today. It's required to have certain flows. The last two years have been critically dry."

According to White, in January 2014 California governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency and directed voluntary water reductions. He directed the state to replace 50 million square feet of turf with drought-tolerant ground covers. Today roadway medians are not allowed to be irrigated and that's why they're brown.

"We want customers to cut down water consumption, but there's a cost," said White. "We're in a Stage 4 drought, which is severe, and we're purchasing as much supplemental water supply as we need. Customers are happy to pay and don't want to run out of water. Our goal is to provide adequate and reliable water supply through 2040."

James Fiedler of Santa Clara Valley Water District led a session on "Drought Impacts: A Northern California Wholesaler's Perspective." He said that in the past decade we've had only one good year as far as precipitation goes. The district imports more than half its water. About 30 percent of the water comes from developed reservoirs, 10 percent from conservation and 5 percent from recycled sources.

Reservoir storage is at 69 percent of normal, said Fiedler. The district has drought response strategies to secure imported supply and manage surface water and groundwater supply.

"Outdoor irrigation for the landscape hasn't been tapped, and needs more efficiency," said Fiedler. "We need to have consistency in messaging, policy and ordinances, to respond to the drought. Recycled water can fill in the gaps. It's a reusable source. Our strength is in potable, re-useable water."