California regulators anticipate they may not be able to allocate reservoir water to utilities across the state next year for the first time ever because of unprecedented dry conditions. The California State Water Project oversees a large system of dams, canals, and reservoirs and helps provide drinking water to around 27 million people in the state. Typically, during the “wet season” rain and melted snow fill the reservoirs, with regulators releasing the stored water during dry summer months. This year, however, California’s historic drought has caused almost 80 percent of the reservoirs’ water to evaporate or be absorbed into the ground, placing reservoir capacity at their lowest levels ever.

On Thursday, Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth said the agency is preparing for what would be its first ever 0 percent allocation because of extraordinarily dry conditions. “These climate changes are coming fast and furious,” California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot explained,. “Nothing in our historic record suggested the possibility of essentially that snow disappearing into the soils and up into the atmosphere at the level that it did.”

One of California’s largest water utilities, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, receives around 30 percent of its supplies from the State Water Project. Demetri Polyzos, manager of resource planning for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, commented, “These are uncharted territories, what we are seeing.” The utility is thus preparing for future disruptions to its water distribution, having issued a “water supply alert” last month calling for voluntary conservation. Unfortunately, voluntary conservation has not proven enough, and regulators warn mandatory water restrictions could be forthcoming. Read the full story at AP News.