In a confluence of weird and jarring optics, operators of the Bradbury Dam at Lake Cachuma began releasing what will eventually be 10,000 acre-feet of water downstream — toward Lompoc — just as regional water experts declared the current drought the driest in recorded history. As is often the case with water, what doesn’t appear to make sense actually does. And vice versa.
The big news is that the years between 2012 and 2018 have now surpassed the county’s previous worst drought in terms of intensity and dryness. “We now have a new drought of record,” declared Tom Fayram, Santa Barbara County’s deputy Public Works director. Translated, that means the current drought will be the yardstick against which all past and future droughts are measured. It’s what current and future water planners must conjure with when crafting projections of long-term water supplies. Barring any sudden downpours between now and September 1 — the beginning of the next water year — Gibraltar Reservoir has received 102.96 inches of rain. The worst recorded drought prior, between 1945 and 1951, saw 117.85 inches fall. By contrast, the most recent drought, between 1984 and 1990, recorded rainfalls of 129.66 inches.
When notified of the new designation, Joshua Haggmark, the sometimes wisecracking water czar for the City of Santa Barbara, quipped, “Oh good! Finally.” He added, “We’re constantly shattering all kinds of records: driest year on record, hottest year on record, longest drought on record, most intense drought on record. We may as well be the new drought of record.”