Although local water officials have yet to learn exactly how the area will be affected by a recent court ruling that will curtail water deliveries to Southern California, the word from water agencies serving east San Bernardino County is that now is the time to start thinking about conservation.
And depending on future events - notably whether the Inland Empire receives a substantial amount of rainfall during the coming winter or experiences another bone-dry season - authorities may even turn to water rationing.
Randy Van Gelder, general manager of the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, said there is a very real possibility that inland California could start to look different in the next few years.
The potential for reduced water supplies for Southern Californians could mean less water will be available to keep lawns and parks looking green.
"In the long-term - the long-term meaning two, three, five years - the lifestyle we have will not be able to be sustained," Van Gelder said. "You may end up with things like restricting the amount of lawn you have at a house.
"We would end up looking more
like the semi-arid desert that we are."The latest shock to California's water system happened on Aug. 31, when U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger ruled that water deliveries from the San Joaquin-Sacramento River delta must be reduced between the months of December and June to protect delta smelt, an endangered fish.
Wanger said pumps used to transport water to Central Valley farms and Southern California cities kill fish populations.
The National Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups filed a lawsuit in 2005 to protect delta smelt.
On Thursday, the NRDC issued a statement praising the judge's order as necessary to protect fish populations and water quality in the delta.
State Water Contractors, an association of California water agencies, has estimated that Wanger's ruling could reduce water flows from the delta by up to one-third of current amounts.
Water deliveries would be reduced for both the State Water Project and federal Central Valley Project, which primarily serves farmers.
In the near term, it won't matter if Wanger's decision is successfully appealed, since the judge's order would not be stayed while any appeal is in process, said Susan Sims, spokeswoman for the California Department of Water Resources.
What Sims called "the new normal" means that come December, water providers can expect to receive smaller amounts of water than they request.
"This is a man-made drought on top of a Mother Nature drought," she said.
The San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District distributes water to more localized agencies that pipe water into homes.
Van Gelder said the district currently uses less than half of the maximum amount of State Water Project supply it is entitled to.
"Maybe a cut back doesn't hurt (us) as much as everyone else," he said.
In July, the Yucaipa Valley Water District started running drinking water through a $44 million filtration system intended to clean State Water Project-provided water.
The district's general manager, Joseph Zoba, said the millions won't go to waste - he still expects to receive state water.
However, the likelihood that reduced amounts of water will be flowing to Yucaipa means that he does not expect to be able to use imported water to replenish local supplies.
"We won't be able to bank as much water into the ground as we wanted to," Zoba said.
Nevertheless, Zoba does not foresee reduced water deliveries as something that will block or significantly slow future development in the Yucaipa and Calimesa areas.
He said the district's requirement that future housing developments pipe in recycled water for watering lawns and other nondrinking purposes will enable future construction to happen.
Zoba and Redlands Water Resources Manager Chris Diggs both acknowledged the possibility of mandatory water rationing and said that for now, it's a must for locals to save water.
"More conservation is necessary - put it that way," Diggs said.
Zoba and Diggs also noted that winter weather will have a big impact on how severely reduced water flows affect the East Valley.
About 20 percent of Redlands' summertime water supply is imported, Diggs said. If enough rain falls to keep the city's local water sources in good shape, Redlands could make it through the new water situation without too much difficulty.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seized upon the Aug. 31 court decision as a moment to trumpet his water proposal, which would spend $4.5 billion on water storage and another billion to restore the delta.
Locally, Stacey Aldstadt, general manager of the San Bernardino Water Department, also said it's time to invest in new water infrastructure, such as the proposed Bunker Hill Basin Regional Water Supply Project.
The Bunker Hill proposal could cost about $120 million and take seven years to build. The idea is to construct several wells and a treatment facility for local groundwater.
In the meantime, Aldstadt echoed other area officials by calling on residents to save water.
"We really are asking people to conserve as much as possible," she said. "Don't water your lawn in the middle of the day. Don't wash your driveway."