California Water Starting to Taste Like Dirt as Historic Drought Continues

By Mary Webber (staff@latinpost.com) First Posted: Jun 22, 2021 08:46 PM EDT

Dry cracked earth is visible inside part of structure that was revealed with low water levels at Nicasio Reservoir on May 28, 2021 in Nicasio, California. Marin County is under mandatory water-use restrictions that orders residents to refrain from washing cars at home, refilling pools and watering lawns once a week. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, 16% of California is in exceptional drought, the most severe level of dryness. (Photo : Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Residents are starting to complain that California water is starting to taste like dirt as a historic drought continues to plague the state.

Officials say that it might not taste great but the water is still safe to drink, according to a Keyt report.

Sacramento utilities officials said they had to release a statement after receiving numerous calls from residents complaining about the water tasting like dirt.

Carlos Eliason, the city's utilities spokesperson, said that the earthy taste is harmless and can be neutralized by adding some lemon or putting it in the refrigerator.

Eliason noted that they are reviewing different technologies to adapt some of the dry conditions. He also added that the city is adding research programs at water treatment facilities to monitor the effects of climate change.

He said that their goal is always to provide high-quality and good-tasting drinking water. Eliason said they wanted to do it as much as possible.

California Drought

Construction crews are finishing the $10 million emergency project to build a massive rock barrier through part of the Delta in Contra Costa County to save water supplies for millions of people across the state, according to a Mercury News report.

The structure is an 800-foot-long barrier, 120 feet wide, and 35 feet deep built in water. It is the size of San Francisco's Transamerica Pyramid.

The purpose of the construction was to block salt water from the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay from flowing too far east.

Jacob McQuirk, principal engineer for the state Department of Water Resources, said it would be a real bad situation if too much salty water reached the pumps as they might have to be shut down.

He added that the water would be too salty for irrigation and they might have to rely lost supplies from big winter storm and they don't know when those are coming.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a drought emergency in 41 out of the state's 58 counties. The state's 1,500 reservoirs are at only 50 percent of their average levels.

Roger Pulwarty, a senior scientist in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said that they are seeing severe dry conditions in some parts of the west, according to The Guardian report.

In March, conditions were already dire enough, which prompted U.S. agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack, to designate most of California as primary disaster area.

Two months later, 93 percent of the south-west California was in drought, with 38 percent of the region classified at the highest level.

Impact of California Drought

Dry conditions are seen to spark another possible devastating wildfire season. Last year, around 4.1m acres were consumed by the flames, with 31 people losing their lives and tens of thousands of buildings burned.

Short water supply is also threatening the state's agriculture industry, which grows over a third of the whole country's vegetables. It also supplies two-thirds of the fruits and nuts in the United States.

Karen Ross, California's food and agriculture secretary, said that she projected around 500,000 acres would have to sit idle this year.

WATCH: California drought has reservoirs at critically low levels - from ABC News

Tags California, California water, dirt, Drought