The Nevada Drought Response Team has recently declared Humboldt County as being in a Stage 2 drought condition (i.e. Extreme Drought). This was determined from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's U.S. Drought Monitor.
The U.S. Weather Bureau states that Humboldt County's yearly precipitation is currently almost 30 percent below normal. This, combined with the fact that the majority of mountain ranges in the county have little to no snowpack remaining, does not bode well for the summer and fall seasons.
One only needs to personally see how low the Humboldt River is, and we are not even into official summer yet. So, what does this mean to all of us Humboldt County citizens? It means that we shouldn't wait for local, state or federal government agencies, or local municipalities, to declare a drought emergency. We can all start to conserve water right now.
Water conservation tips:
1. Stop washing your vehicle unless it's so dirty you can't see out the windows.
2. Only flush your toilets when it is absolutely necessary - consider the adage" It's mellow if yellow, if brown flush it down."
3. Reduce the number of days and length of time that you irrigate your yards and landscaping. If your have automatic sprinkler systems, deactivate the auto mode and start the watering using the manual over-ride. This goes double for commercial businesses who have lawns and landscaping. Their unattended automatic sprinklers regularly run thousands of gallons of water into the street gutters daily. Install more efficient drip irrigation systems and low-flow sprinkler heads wherever possible.
If you are building new homes and businesses, use xeric landscaping and native plants which require less water.
4. Only run the dishwasher and washing machine when they are full up.
5. Take no more than "five minute Navy" showers and reduce the weekly number of showers/baths you take. Your teenage children really need to follow this advice!
6. Ranchers and farmers need to reduce their overall water usage, especially if utilizing pivot irrigation equipment to irrigate large acreages (24-hour/seven-day watering needs to be modified immediately).
7. The mining industry needs to implement more efficient methods of using water, especially concerning the dewatering of pits. This could include direct reinjection into the ground water aquifers from which the water was drawn.
8. Install flow restrictor water faucets.
9. Educate your children, students and others about the importance of water conservation. Not only in drought conditions, but all the time.
Remember, Nevada is the driest state in the Union even in better water years.
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