For the last five years, Californians have adjusted to a new reality when it comes to water usage. Not much will change now that the drought emergency is officially over. After unprecedented rainfall and the development of a robust Sierra-Cascades snowpack, Gov. Jerry Brown declared an end to the drought emergency on April 7. Brown spoke with caution, stressing that “the next drought could be around the corner.”
As state officials clamp down on records at Oroville Dam, one of the country’s foremost experts on catastrophic engineering failures has used state inspection reports, photographs and historical design specifications to piece together an autopsy detailing why the spillway at the country’s tallest dam failed so spectacularly this winter. The independent analysis by Robert Bea, of the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management at UC Berkeley, points to design and construction flaws dating back to the spillway’s construction in the 1960s.
A report released today by the Southern California Water Committee and the Committee for Delta Reliability exposes the unintended consequences of nearly two decades of water cuts caused by environmental regulation – showing the hardest hit are those who rely on agriculture to survive, such as farmworkers, food processors, truck drivers and warehouse workers, among many others.
Gov. Jerry Brown declared an end to California’s drought this month, lifting emergency water restrictions in all but a few counties across the state. This winter has been the wettest on record for Northern California, but that doesn’t mean California’s problems are over. Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson talks with Jay Lund (@JayLund113), professor of civil and environmental engineering and the director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California Davis.
The water spread into every corner of the fields, beckoning wading ibises and egrets as it bathed long rows of sprouting grapevines. Several inches had covered the vineyard ground for a couple of months. But rather than draining it, Don Cameron was pouring more on. “This is not about irrigation,” the sprawling farm’s manager kept telling his quizzical workers. “It’s about recharge. … I want all the water you can get into the grape fields now.” After a drought-busting winter, reservoirs up and down California are dumping water to make room for spring snowmelt.
Just a week after Governor Jerry Brown declared the end of the California drought emergency, the northern half of the state logged its wettest year into the record books. But that doesn’t mean California’s water problems are over. On 13 April, rainfall measuring stations in the Sierra Nevada mountains recorded 89.7 inches of water. The previous record set in 1983 was 88.5 inches. In the past 12 months, California has simultaneously dealt with the effects of not enough water and far too much of it.
Recharging underground water supplies through old and new channels and methods may only lead to overconsumption, especially if drought conditions return in a few years. Several water management experts in the central and southern San Joaquin Valley, where painful drought conditions have prevailed for the past five years, are discussing additional channels and choices for putting some of this year’s excess water into underground storage for future use. And they’re considering continuing programs to bolster those pools every year.
When Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana in 2005, cities inland saw an influx of evacuees escaping the storm and its aftermath. Now, a new University of Georgia study predicts that this could happen again as a result of sea-level rise. In a paper published today in Nature Climate Change, researchers estimate that approximately 13.1 million people could be displaced by rising ocean waters, with Atlanta, Houston and Phoenix as top destinations for those forced to relocate.
In response to this year’s wet winter weather and effective water conservation, California Gov. Jerry Brown has declared the Golden State’s more than 5-year-long drought over, for the most part. With the exception of four counties, Brown lifted the official drought emergency on April 7. Even as he did so, however, he emphasized the importance of preparing for future droughts — and dealing with the fallout from the one that just ended. “This drought emergency is over, but the next drought could be around the corner,” Brown said in a statement. “Conservation must remain a way of life.”
Oregon and Washington lead the way in state programs that facilitate environmental water transfers. A new Stanford study concludes Colorado Basin states, including California, have lots of catching up to do. Water transfers are an important way to share a limited resource, especially to help fish and habitats that were historically left with scraps when water rights were parceled out around the West. The water for such transfers usually comes from farmers, who free up water through some kind of conservation measure. By transferring the saved water, a farmer can help imperiled fish and make some money.
