State water supply experts say it will also take more than one good year of heavy snow to begin recovery of the state's groundwater basins from several years of drought.

Worsening droughts, competition for scarce supplies, sea level rise, groundwater contamination, earthquakes, wildfires and extreme weather all contribute to California water woes.

Water supply was a concern for a majority of survey participants in each area of the state—the central valley, Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties and the San Francisco Bay Area.