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Despite sinking to a record low in early July, Lake Mead should be just full enough on Jan. 1 to avoid an unprecedented federal shortage declaration for at least one more year. Decisive projections released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation call for the reservoir east of Las Vegas to start 2017 with a surface elevation of about 1,079 feet above sea level. That’s roughly 4 feet above the line that would force Nevada and Arizona to cut their Colorado River water use. Under guidelines adopted in 2007, the bureau uses its August projections for Lake Mead to determine whether to declare a shortage.

Paskenta population 112, is an out-of-the-way place where rustic ranches grace grass-covered hills rolling west toward Mendocino Pass. Since the lumber mill closed in 1992, the Tehama County community 130 miles (210km) north of Sacramento has been settling into bucolic tranquility. A water crisis has triggered a rude awakening. Thomes Creek, the sole source of water for the Paskenta Community Services District, is dropping. A pump that taps the underflow from a pool in the creek is a mere 6ft (1.8m) below the current water level, said Janet Zornig, the district’s manager.

 

Sacramento has issued an edict to roll back greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels within four years. One of the quickest ways to reach that goal is to not build the Twin Tunnels as proposed by Gov. Brown who wants greenhouse emissions reduced even further. The reason is simple. Electricity generation accounts for 20 percent of California’s greenhouse gas emissions according to the state Air Resources Board.

 

One of the shocking truths to emerge from California’s continuing drought is this: the state has no idea how much water it has. Nor do its leaders have a clear idea how much water is actually diverted by users, what it is used for and how much is left over. “It’s kind of surprising how little we know about some of these issues,” said Alvar Escriva-Bou, a research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. “There is much room for improvement.”

From his office along the Colorado River in Glenwood Springs, Eric Kuhn can see the bottom of Lake Powell.
Kuhn, the general manager of the Colorado River District, has been working for months on a study asking if future droughts will drop water levels in Lake Powell so low that Glen Canyon Dam won’t be able to produce hydropower or release enough water to meet downstream demands.