La Honda has no snowpack, no big water utility, no large municipal reservoirs. Those who live here know how important a dependable source of water is. Here, farms, fish, and people depend upon the same limited water resources.
During this unprecedented drought, some residents have been trucking in water to drink, cook, and bathe. You may have seen your neighbors getting water deliveries, or maybe you have been forced to buy water from elsewhere too. Farmers have had to fallow fields, steelhead trout and endangered Coho salmon risk extinction as their creek dries up, and there have been notices about water rationing.
The Resource Conservation District (RCD), and our partners at Trout Unlimited, American Rivers, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and San Mateo County are collaborating on an ambitious initiative on to: help farmers conserve, strategically manage and store water; fix leaks and broken pipes in drinking water supply systems; improve water pumping, delivery and storage facilities; coordinate water users to balance demands on limited resources; and restore water to creeks for threatened and endangered species.
As part of this program, potable water supply for the community of La Honda will be improved by dredging and lining the Granny Flat Reservoir, increasing storage capacity, reducing seepage losses, and addressing past water quality issues.
The water use, infrastructure, and water management improvements that are part of this project will result in an estimated combined total of 6.55 million gallons of additional local water storage capacity and 51 million gallons per year of water conservation in the Pescadero and San Gregorio watersheds.
If you’re interested in learning more about our Drought Relief Program, contact Adria Arko at 650-712-7765 or adria@sanmateoRCD.org.