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Emergency Drought Response (Yolo County Office of Emergency Services)

Dry Well Reporting:

Well Type	# Wells	Notes
Household	11	One home currently on the County-sponsored water delivery program with an above ground tank installed.  Three more are getting water deliveries to a tank they already had installed on their property.  Others are getting water delivered or have found other solutions. – Increased by 2 new reports since last month but also decreased by 2 reports (as those home owners have had new wells drilled).
Small Business	1	Has been out of water for almost a year.  Business does not qualify for USDA water programs due to the fact that their animals are not “production” animals.
Cemetery	2	One cemetery has water to their building, but grounds have no access to water.  Another cemetery has no water but has set up porta-potties and bottled water for those working at the location.
Fire Department	1	One fire department has had their pump lowered and is on a well drill list.
Other	1	One property reported to State database; insufficient information for staff to confirm.

 
Funding authorized by the Board of Supervisors in 2021 for Yolo OES response to the drought was $50,000.  Funding provided by the State Department of Water Resources for the above ground tank program (through a grant) is $559,500.  To date Yolo OES has spent just over $25,000 responding to residents' needs for the drought in Yolo County. For the month of May, Yolo OES staff delivered 213 cases of bottled drinking water to eight homes that have reported dry wells to Yolo County OES.
 


The week of May 23^rd Yolo County was notified that the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES)  denied access to the California Disaster Assistance Act (CDAA) as part of the Governor’s Drought emergency proclamation.  At this time, CalOES does not feel that there are sufficient damages within Yolo County for the County to be eligible.  Yolo County will continue to provide affected numbers to the State should that assessment change.

Groundwater Well Permit Processing (Yolo County Environmental Health) Groundwater Conditions (Yolo Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Agency)
 In March 2022, the Yolo Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Agency (YSGA) completed spring groundwater measurements on 62 representative monitoring wells, and as seen on the hydrograph below, the average depth to water was at approximately 45 feet. 
 
As of May 31, 2022, groundwater elevations are approximately 10 feet lower than last year at this time, and approximately 3 feet lower than 2015 at this time.
 
Given the lack of surface water that’s available to the region this year, the YSGA is currently forecasting that fall groundwater elevations will be close to the 1976/1977 drought average elevation of 65 feet to depth-to-water. 
 
The YSGA is using the estimated fall groundwater elevations to assist in the written verification process for determining whether new agricultural wells are consistent with the adopted Yolo Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Plan (Section 9a of the Governor’s EO).


Water Conservation Regulation (Office of the County Counsel)

In addition to the well permitting requirement, EO N-7-22 directed the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to consider adopting emergency regulations that included a requirement for urban water suppliers to implement water shortage response actions for a shortage level of up to twenty percent (Level 2) per their respective water shortage contingency plans.  On May 24, 2022, the SWRCB adopted emergency regulations (Resolution No. 2022-0018) requiring urban water suppliers to implement Level 2 of their water shortage contingency plans to increase water conservation and prohibited the use of potable water for the irrigation of non-functional turf at commercial, industrial, and institutional sites, but excluding watering to protect the health of trees and other perennial non-turf plantings to the extent necessary to address an immediate health and safety need.  The City of Davis has implemented its Level 2 water restrictions and the County adopted a water conservation program on September 14, 2021 (Ordinance No. 1540), modeled after the City of Davis’s water shortage contingency plan for the County Service Areas that provide water service. The County has already implemented drought Level 3 for the Wild Wings CSA due to its water supply conditions, which includes limiting outdoor irrigation to two days per week, and staff anticipate returning to the Board on June 28th with a resolution implementing Level 2 drought restrictions in the North Davis Meadows, El Macero, and Willowbank County Service Areas.