17 rural areas of California could run out of water in the next 60 to 120 days, according to a report by the San Jose Mercury News.
Some reservoirs in the Golden State, which has been suffering from a deep drought for weeks, will soon be completely empty. Some of these systems, particularly in rural areas of Santa Cruz County, Sonoma County and the city of Healdsburg, provide water to almost 11,000 citizens in the state.
According to Dave Mazzera, drinking-water division chief of California's Department of Public Health, the problem could get much worse.
"As the drought goes on, there will be more that probably shows up on the list," Mazzera told the Mercury News.
Many of the water districts hit by the drought don't have enough consumers to pay for the extra materials or back up supplies necessary for this kind of crisis. As a result, most of these rural areas are more susceptible to droughts than metropolitan areas.
For now, state officials are mulling bringing in trucks filled with water, or digging more wells, the Mercury News reported.
"This is a statewide drought," director of the state Drought Task Force Bill Croyle told the Mercury News. "This is a serious drought. It's all hands on deck."
Weather forecasts indicate that there will be some rain in Northern California come Thursday, but serious rainfall will be necessary to drag the state out of its depleted water resources.
"We have been unable to take water out of the creek since August and well production is down, and we didn't have that much water to begin with," Lompico water board member Lois Henry said. "I'm frankly worried. I know people turn their faucets on and say, 'Oh, everything's fine.' And I know it's not."
