It’s wildfire season in the American West, and this one has already been setting records: the second-most destructive conflagration in Colorado, the largest-ever wildfire recorded in California and the worst air quality on record in smoky Seattle. Multiple fires continue to ravage the region, threatening homes, lives and, in many cases, water supplies.
I read with great interest Sam Kumar’s opinion column on the recent California wildfires (“California wildfire prevention needs rational solutions,” Aug. 19). I agree on two points: The wildfires this season are substantially worse than normal, and the drought is to blame for this difficult summer experienced by Nevadans and our neighbors.
Heat waves will grow more severe and persistent, shortening the lives of thousands of Californians. Wildfires will burn more of the state’s forests. The ocean will rise higher and faster, exposing California to billions in damage along the coast. These are some of the threats California will face from climate change in coming decades, according to a new statewide assessment released Monday by the California Natural Resources Agency.
This year’s wildfire season is not the worst that California will see. The number of large fires across the state will likely increase by 50 percent by the end of the century while the amount of land that burns annually will rise 77 percent, according to a new, far-reaching state report that seeks to document the impacts of climate change.
The clock is ticking to ensure clean drinking water is available to all in California. Legislators have just five days to help an estimated 1 million Californians access safe and affordable drinking water from their faucets. In the world’s fifth-largest economy, there should be no question about voting “yes” for the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund (SB 844 and SB 845). Stories we’ve heard from around the state make the need all the more compelling.
By most measures, California is way ahead of the rest of the country when it comes to fighting climate change. We have some of the strictest environmental regulations, more zero-emission cars on the road than any other state and, as of July, are four years ahead of our self-imposed goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to levels not seen since the 1990s. But if this week has proven anything, it’s that now is not the time to rest on our laurels.
Apart from a famous Mark Twain quote involving whiskey and fighting, no cliché about California water is more abused than the phrase “water wars.” However, in the instance of the State Water Resources Control Board’s plan to restore the San Joaquin River, the label fits. War has been declared on the Bay Area’s largest source of freshwater, with grave implications for residents and businesses that go way beyond letting your lawn go brown. At issue is a proposal to increase freshwater flows on the San Joaquin River.
Another new tax is headed for your water bill as if it wasn’t high enough already. Gov. Jerry Brown has been trying to push through a statewide tax on drinking water, the first ever in California history, and as you might imagine, it has been a challenge for him. People are fed up with new taxes. That was demonstrated very convincingly in the June recall of state Sen. Josh Newman, D-Fullerton.
The Colorado River is running low on water. The lifeline that slakes the thirst of 40 million southwestern residents is projected to hit a historic low mark within two years, forcing mandatory cuts to water deliveries in Arizona, Nevada and Mexico. Facing exceptional drought conditions, cities throughout the watershed this summer have imposed mandatory water restrictions, ranchers have begun selling off cows they’re unable to feed, and the river’s reservoirs are headed toward levels not seen since they filled decades ago.
A new forecast from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation shows signs that water levels at Lake Mead, which supplies water to three southwestern states and northern Mexico, could drop so low by next year that it could eventually result in a demand for more water from the Colorado River and from the upper basin states, including Colorado, that rely on the big river. The ever-increasing shortages in those three southwestern states could eventually mean water shortages in Colorado, too.
