Will the storm move the drought needle?
What the rain means for drought conditions
It may be too soon to tell if the current rain storm can inch out a drought. Water officials say the atmospheric river is bringing much-needed moisture.
SAN FRANCISCO - Bay Area water agencies, starved for snow and rain, are encouraged by this week s storm system.
But managers say it’s too early to say if it will have a lasting impact. This storm has made a very nice difference, we re not out of the woods, but it s a nice difference, said Steve Ritchie, Assistant General Manager for Water Enterprise for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
“If we don’t think about this carefully, lifting the ban suddenly would be a disaster,” said SPUR Director of Sustainability and Resiliency Policy Laura Feinstein, who authored the report.
“I think everybody’s worst fear is that large numbers of low-income folks that have trouble paying their bills are going to get their water disconnected, because that means that there’s large numbers of people in the community who can’t wash their hands,” Feinstein said. “It also means they can get evicted from their apartments.”
In the long-run, mounting debt could also leave water utilities in dire financial straights without federal assistance, according to the report.