The dry times are back. Drought has returned with a vengeance across much of the United States, with the worst conditions across southern and western parts of the nation. As of Thursday, 38.4% of the continental U.S. is in a drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. That is the highest percentage since the 40% recorded in May 2014.
The torrential rains that ripped through the state earlier the state earlier this year and created the destructive and deadly mudslides in Montecito may make California’s drought seem like ancient history. But much of California has, in reality, suffered through an unusually hot — and somewhat dry — winter. A heat wave baked Southern California this week, breaking temperature records across the region. And officials say it has been warm in Northern California, too, causing much of the area’s precipitation to fall as rain instead of snow.
It’s a tantalizing pot of money, $2.7 billion for new dams and reservoirs approved by California voters during the worst of the drought. But is the state willing to spend it? The California Water Commission, the obscure state agency in charge of allocating the money, stunned the California water world recently by giving a decidedly lukewarm response to the 11 applications it received for funding. Farm irrigation districts and municipal water agencies applying for the money fear that the commission has raised the bar so high that few if any reservoir projects will qualify for the dollars.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced on Thursday that California public schools built before 2010 must test for lead in drinking water. Last year, Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill 746, which requires community water systems statewide to complete lead testing in these older schools by July 1, 2019. “Students need fresh water, nutritious meals, and regular physical activity to be ready to learn and succeed in class,” Torlakson said. “Cooperation with local water systems is critical to ensure proper testing.”
Tucked away in a book in my Capitol office is a letter addressed to Kenneth William Cooley whose return address is stated simply as The White House. A 4 cent stamp on the envelope shows a Mercury space capsule floating above a luminous Earth with the words “US Man in Space.” Its cancellation mark shows it was mailed on May 4th 1962 in Washington, D.C. I had written President John F. Kennedy at the age of seven, and received that response shortly after I turned eight.
Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed two giant tunnels, each wide enough to contain most of the Sacramento River, to alleviate California’s chronic water woes and reduce tension between San Joaquin Valley farmers and salmon advocates. This controversial project, billed “California WaterFix,” is little more than a modern application of irrigation technology developed by the Roman Empire. Scientists at an East Bay laboratory, meanwhile, are also trying to address water shortages, but to do so, they’re delving into uncharted realms of science and technology.
High-capacity batteries aren’t just making electric vehicles viable. They’re also beginning to transform water utilities. In Southern California, a number of water utilities have begun to install large batteries alongside their pumping plants and water treatment facilities. The idea is to store energy in the batteries overnight, when energy is cheaper. Then during the daytime, when power is more expensive, a water agency can tap that battery power for its routine operations.
Every spring in the western United States, snow melts off mountains, feeding rivers with surges of water that can cause disastrous floods. But warm weather isn’t the main culprit, a new study finds. Instead, dusty soil that sticks to snow can darken it and accelerate its melting. The findings could establish a new way of forecasting snowmelt flooding—and suggest that the current prediction system has been getting it all wrong. The work is “groundbreaking,” says Adrian Harpold, a hydrologist at the University of Nevada in Reno who wasn’t involved with the study. “Dust is a really big deal for snowpack.”
The California Department of Water Resources is facing a new and potentially very costly lawsuit over the failure of the spillways at Oroville Dam a year ago. A complaint filed in Butte County Superior Court Wednesday outlines approximately $120 million in losses claimed by more than 40 farms, businesses and other property owners along the Feather River downstream from the nation’s tallest dam.
The last time California officials conducted their snow survey near Echo Summit, a month ago, the ground was practically barren. This time there was snow. Just not a lot of it. The Department of Water Resources’ monthly snow survey at Phillips Station on Thursday revealed a meager 13.6 inches of snow, or 14 percent of historical average. It was the latest evidence of a dry winter that has conjured up fears of another drought.
