Pleasanton: A History and Future of Droughts

A Drought Climate

California’s drought periods are growing longer and drier – drought.gov

It may come as a surprise to some, but we Pleasantonians live in a drought climate. Droughts in Pleasanton are long, dry, and worst of all, unpredictable. They lead to instability in our water supply for residents, businesses, buildings, recreation, and our environment.

The Go Green Initiative 2020 Pleasanton interns met with Olivia Sanwong, the President of the Board of Directors for the Zone 7 Water Agency, to discuss Pleasanton’s future of droughts. What she had to say surprised all of us:

“Looking at the next 50 years, if we’re lucky, we’ll have half of those years without drought.”  – Olivia Sanwong

Water Conservation and Storage

Eric Cartwright, a retired Water Resources Planning Manager, explained that water can be stored safely underground for up to 10-15 years. This water will be essential during years of droughts or when we have little rainfall.

Since Pleasanton is located in a drought climate, we will always be at-risk for water shortages. That is why water conservation should not end when the drought does. In order to have a secure future, we must save water now.

In our upcoming blog posts, we will be discussing the different strategies on how to conserve water.

We hope you stay posted for that!