Social media users are playing the blame game when it comes to California’s drought. Read enough comments online and you’ll see many similar responses blaming the state government for its management of water: California should have more water storage. California dumps water into the ocean. Northern California sends too much water to Southern California.
At first glance at the north fork of the Mokelumne River, the water supply looks healthy for Amador County, but some waterways like Sutter Creek sit dry.
When Virginia Iglesias goes climbing in Eldorado Canyon or skis the Gore Range, she tries to block out all the big data she collects as a researcher for the University of Colorado’s Earth Lab climate change section. But it’s hard to ignore.
The wildfire smoke and ozone choking her climbing friends and obscuring the views of the Flatirons.
Las Vegas visitors can still snap selfies with the mermaids swimming among tropical fish in the Silverton Casino’s massive aquarium and gaze at the colorful dancing water displays of the iconic Bellagio fountains — for now.
But southern Nevada and much of the American West are struggling to cope with a worsening drought that has strained municipal water supplies, agricultural operations and wildlife populations.
Deep in the northern California wilderness, nestled among rolling hills and magnificent pines, the Mount Shasta volcano towers above the landscape as a lone sentinel beckoning to those around it. Rising to 14,179 feet, Shasta is one of the tallest mountains in the Lower 48. Given its height, snow cover is common year-round, especially after a snowy season or two. It is home to some of the largest glaciers in California and includes at least seven glaciers, some named after Native Americans in the 1800s. This year is testing the theory that snow and ice will always be found on Shasta.
A 20-year megadrought in the West is threatening hydropower for millions of people, so the federal government is taking emergency action. It’s sending water from other reservoirs to Lake Powell to help keep the power turbines there spinning.
As an ongoing water shortage that’s hurting ranchers and dairies in the North Bay, the Marin County Board of Supervisors will consider extending a local emergency declaration of drought conditions at its meeting Tuesday.
Much of the state is facing parched conditions after two consecutive dry years and Marin County is no exception. The county’s two largest water suppliers, the Marin Municipal Water District and the North Marin Water District, have declared water shortage emergencies and put mandatory conservation measures in place.
From the top of Newell Creek Dam, the water level of Loch Lomond Reservoir looks particularly low. Steep, gravely banks stretch between the trees and the water.
On one side of the reservoir, a crane and a drilling rig sit on floating docks, surrounded by shipping containers and other heavy machinery. The City of Santa Cruz is replacing the pipeline that brings water in and out of Loch Lomond. But the project managers worry that if the water level drops much lower, the construction equipment could get stuck.
This year, natural disasters across the country — including epochal drought conditions and devastating wildfires in California — have thrown into sharp relief the urgent need for action on climate. Despite the urgency of the issue, proposed legislation in the state to address climate change has either been thwarted or diluted by the powerful fossil-fuel industry’s allies and lobbyists.
Marin County water officials said there is no room for delay if the county hopes to build a $65 million emergency water pipeline across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.
Reservoir depletion in the Marin Municipal Water District has prompted one of its board members to call for stricter water conservation measures to buy more time and to have a more solid backup plan should the pipeline project fall through.
