A half century from now, the residents of Calaveras County may remember our time as one of drought, fire and dying forests. But if even a few of the visions discussed at a historic meeting on Thursday are realized, they will also remember that 2016 was a time of hope.

The meeting in the Chesborough Room at the Calaveras County Public Library was an informal gathering of ranchers, conservationists, a water district official and others with interests in the soon-to-form Calaveras County Resource Conservation District that voters approved in the election on June 7.

The Sacramento region’s largest water districts have given a resounding answer to the question of whether they could handle three more years of drought: We have plenty of water.

The State Water Resources Control Board last month asked California’s urban water districts to evaluate how much water they would need in the next three years if drought persisted – and whether their supplies would meet that demand. Districts that certify their supplies are adequate will not face mandatory water-use cuts. Those with inadequate supplies must set conservation goals proportional to their anticipated shortfall.

 

 

Despite winter rains and the lifting of urban conservation rules this month, California is still desperate for water. Reservoirs in Southern California are low, and we’re sucking groundwater from the Central Valley.

But what if there’s a vast pool of unidentified water? How much would we use immediately, how much would we save and how would we protect it? Our new study published this week in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences concludes that the Central Valley has almost three times more fresh water underground than the state estimates.

In 1941, Los Angeles came for the scenic lake here. After diverting the inflows to Owens Lake — setting it on course for ruin — the city extended its aqueduct 100 miles north in the eastern Sierra Nevada and captured virtually all of Mono Lake’s tributaries.

Like Owens Lake, Mono Lake’s water level began to drop precipitously as Los Angeles pumped millions of gallons of water that would have previously run into the lake.

California’s climate has always been hospitable to fire – it comes with the territory. But add five years of drought, a bark beetle blight killing trees by the millions and rising temperatures, and it’s a recipe for disaster.

“We are seeing the compounded effects of climate change that includes five consecutive years of drought and rising mean temperatures across the West – last year was the hottest year on record,” said Janet Upton, deputy director of communication at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). “All that is trending to a more flammable California.”