Fresno County is once again in a water crisis. In late March, the California Department of Water Resources announced the 2021 State Water Project allocation to Fresno County farmers would be only 5% of requested water supplies, half of what DWR had announced would be available in December.
The reduction will have a serious impact on Fresno County farmers and agriculture throughout the Central Valley.
Monterey One Water officials on Monday moved closer to its goal of providing additional water for the Monterey Peninsula when it unanimously approved a key environmental report for its expansion project. The 10 members of the board of Monterey One Water all voted to approve an environmental document called a supplemental environmental impact report, or SEIR, that advances closer to the expansion of its regional treatment plant. Monterey One is the sewer treatment provider in northern Monterey County that has invested in proven technology that can purify wastewater to the degree it becomes drinkable. It is then reintroduced into local groundwater.
After two exceptionally dry California winters, the East Bay Municipal Utility District is on the brink of declaring a stage 1 drought and asking customers to establish a district-wide voluntary water use reduction of 10 percent.
The utility district’s board of directors is meeting Tuesday night and district staff members will present the 2021 Water Supply Availability and Deficiency Report and make the recommendation.
Arizona may be facing its first official declaration of water shortage next year, a move that would trigger water cutbacks of 512,000 acre-feet — almost 20% of Arizona’s Colorado River entitlement — affecting mainly agricultural users.
The 24-Month Study on the Colorado River system, released this month by the Bureau of Reclamation, projects that in June water levels in Lake Mead will fall below 1,075 feet for the first time, which would put the state in a Tier 1 shortage.
Some Colorado River tribulations today remind me of a folk story: A young man went to visit his fiancé and found the family trembling and weeping. They pointed to the ceiling, where an axe was embedded in a rafter.
The long-term drought and effects of climate change means more trouble for the millions of people that depend on the Colorado River.
In a statement released in early April, the Arizona Department of Water Resources, and the Central Arizona Project state that they expect the first-ever shortage declaration for the river in 2022, meaning substantial cuts to Arizona’s share of the water supply.
Scientists have few categories at their disposal to describe droughts, which are more complex than mere shortages of precipitation or surface water. For example, some local shortages can be invisible, as when water is transferred into a dry area from a distant source. Other shortages are chronic, with communities continuously requiring more water than is available, even in wet years. Some water shortages occur when water quality becomes so degraded that even though there may be plenty of water available, little of it is usable. With such variation in conditions, scientists need better language to conceptualize droughts.
As yet another season of drought returns to California, the mood has grown increasingly grim across the vast and fertile San Joaquin Valley. Renowned for its bounty of dairies, row crops, grapes, almonds, pistachios and fruit trees, this agricultural heartland is still reeling from the effects of the last punishing drought, which left the region geologically depressed and mentally traumatized. Now, as the valley braces for another dry spell of undetermined duration, some are openly questioning the future of farming here, even as legislative representatives call on Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a drought emergency. Many small, predominantly Latino communities also face the risk of having their wells run dry.
Sonoma County is facing a historic drought after two dry winters and, on Tuesday, county supervisors are expected to proclaim a drought emergency.
“We’re looking, today, at the lowest level our reservoirs have ever been since they were built,” said Brad Sherwood, the spokesman at Sonoma Water.
By the time this column is published, Northern California may be receiving some much-needed rain, and possibly some snow. However, late-season precipitation does not change the reality that California is in one of its periodic droughts after two dry years.
Major Northern California reservoirs are only about half-full due to scanty runoff from mountain snowpacks, farmers are getting tiny percentages of their normal water allotments, and local water agencies are beginning to impose restrictions on household use.
