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OPINION: A Wet Year Won’t Beat California’s Never-Ending Drought

Storm after storm has pummeled California over the past few weeks as a series of so-called atmospheric rivers has come ashore. Given the massive amounts of rain and snow that have fallen, people want to know if California’s five-year-long intensive drought is finally over. The answer, of course, depends on what people mean by “drought” and “over,” and it depends on who you ask. There isn’t—and never has been—agreement about the meaning of either word. Drought is defined and used in many ways: There are meteorological, hydrological, agricultural, and socioeconomic droughts.

Month’s Rains Swamp Most Years’ January Figures

What has felt like an especially wet January in California isn’t an effect of people becoming accustomed to the past half decade of drought. It really has been an exceptionally soaking month. San Francisco is experiencing the seventh-wettest January on record to date, according to the National Weather Service, and it’s nipping at the heels of January 1982, when a historic El Niño caused major flooding in California. “The storms have been one after the other,” said Anna Schneider, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Monterey office.

So Far, So Good In Burn Areas

In the Duarte burn area, many residents decided to stay in their homes home, despite mandatory evacuation orders. Rudy Fuentes, an elementary school teacher, said he stayed behind to protect his home in case things really got out of hand, though he said, “I hope it doesn’t come to that.” His driveway was covered in about two inches of mud from Friday’s rains and mudflow, and he tied plywood across the driveway to protect it. He’s also got sandbags and, on Friday, and he and his son dug a couple of trenches.

 

Ventura To Explore State Water Connection

Ventura could begin actively exploring connecting to state water if the City Council approves setting aside money for a comprehensive study evaluating what it would take. The council on Monday will consider spending up to $653,000 to have an outside consultant prepare a report that looks at the cost, design, capacity, environmental impacts and other issues that go with connecting to state water. The city in 1971 entered into an agreement with the Casitas Municipal Water District and the state Department of Water Resources to get state water, according to the city’s staff report.

 

Rainbow and FPUD Share of SDCWA Vote Entitlement To Decrease

The weighted vote entitlement at San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) meetings will decrease for the Rainbow Municipal Water District and the Fallbrook Public Utility District. The SDCWA board approved the weighted vote entitlement for 2017 at its Dec. 8, 2016 board meeting. The member vote entitlement is calculated based on the total cumulative financial contribution from each agency since the SDCWA was created in 1944. The contribution amount includes all taxes, assessments, fees, and charges paid to or on behalf of the SDCWA by property located within the member agency’s boundary through the June 30 end of the previous fiscal year.

VIDEO: Politically Speaking: Is California’s Drought Over?

Three years ago, Governor Jerry Brown declared California in a state of emergency as we faced water shortfalls in what was the driest year on record. But things have been slowly improving. We’ve seen a lot of storms this season, but is California’s drought over? NBC 7 Meteorologist, Jodi Kodesh and Mike Lee with the San Diego County Water Authority stop by Politically Speaking to discuss.

California Considers Ending Emergency Drought Rules

Defining drought in California can be a tricky business, especially when five years of severely dry conditions are abruptly followed by torrents of rain, flooding rivers and blankets of mountain snow — as residents have seen in the past few weeks.Amid the ongoing succession of storms, water managers up and down the state are urging regulators in Sacramento to permanently cancel historic, emergency drought rules that have been in place for 18 months.

Early Snowpack Indicates ‘Coin Flip’ For Lake Mead Shortage Declaration In 2018

Snow is piling up in the Rockies and Sierra Nevada, but this year’s first official water forecast for the Colorado River still predicts Lake Mead will shrink enough to trigger a federal shortage declaration in 2018. Federal forecasters expect the lake’s surface to drop by about 9 feet by the end of 2017, which would put it inches below the all-important shortage line of 1,075 feet above sea level. That would force Nevada and Arizona to cut their use of Colorado River water under rules adopted a decade ago.

 

Water Districts React As California Gets Rain

It’s raining in California. Is the drought over? That’s a complicated question. Voice of San Diego recently answered it like this: “Southern California’s drought emergency is over, but its overall drought may not be. It depends what you mean by ‘drought.’”

BLOG: Wild Ride Awaits For Water Issues Under Trump

Donald Trump made some big campaign promises about water during his election campaign. Now that he has been elected president, those promises could dramatically shake up how water is managed in the arid West. In one of his few direct statements about water, Trump has said he wants to invest in treatment systems to prevent problems caused by aging distribution lines, citing as an example the drinking-water contamination in the Michigan city of Flint. To do this, he proposes to triple funding for a federal loan program, called the state revolving fund, from the current $2 billion to $6 billion.