The joke on social media after Donald Trump’s victory early Wednesday was that the tears of liberal Californians would refill the state’s reservoirs and end the drought.
Since that doesn’t seem to have worked, it’s now a matter of waiting to see what policies the president-elect might push after Inauguration Day. And on that front, Delta advocates aren’t holding out much hope.
California’s drought is forcing farmers across the state to squeeze the most out of every last drop of water, but what if it was possible to grow a bountiful crop with no water at all? One local winery is doing just that, with a centuries-old technique enjoying a renaissance in parched California. A soft breeze is blowing through Amador County, where the birds are chirping, the flags are flying and the wine is flowing at Andis Wines. For winemaker Mark McKenna, “It’s a dream come true.”
California’s drought is forcing farmers across the state to squeeze the most out of every last drop of water, but what if it was possible to grow a bountiful crop with no water at all?
One local winery is doing just that, with a centuries-old technique enjoying a renaissance in parched California. A soft breeze is blowing through Amador County, where the birds are chirping, the flags are flying and the wine is flowing at Andis Wines. For winemaker Mark McKenna, “It’s a dream come true.”
A California ballot measure that could put two of Gov. Jerry Brown’s legacy projects on the line was trailing slightly in incomplete counting late Tuesday. With more than 5 million votes counted, the “no” vote against Proposition 53 reached 50.9 percent, with a lead of 98,568. The ballot measure would make the state get voter approval before launching any state project needing $2 billion or more in revenue bonds. Brown supports a $64 billion high-speed rail project and two proposed giant tunnels costing $15.7 billion to carry Northern California water for use by Central and Southern California cities and farms.
Two of Gov. Jerry Brown’s legacy projects were on the line Tuesday, as Californians decided whether to require a statewide vote for any state mega-project requiring $2 billion or more in revenue bonds. If Californians approve the revenue-bond measure, Proposition 53, Brown’s plans for $64 billion in high-speed rail and $15.7 billion for two giant tunnels that would carry Northern California water south may have to face their own statewide votes. Brown, who is pushing to launch both projects before he leaves office in 2018, has made defeating the ballot measure a priority.
Most people think access to water is a God-given right, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. History is filled with legal precedents trying to resolve basic water rights; essentially sorting out the “haves versus the have nots.” Even today, in water-scarce areas like South Africa and the Middle East, unstable governments are allowing private companies to provide water services. Unfortunately many of these large corporations are callously controlling limited water resources making access to this life-giving substance an economic burden for the poor.
Is California still in a drought? It’s a question a lot of people are asking these days, especially after the state abandoned mandatory conservation earlier this summer. The situation is made even more confusing by some stakeholders who are talking out of both sides of their mouth about California’s water supply availability in an effort to try to shift all of the burdens of the drought on to the environment, fisheries and other stakeholders. Two recent letters from the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) are a perfect example of the double-speak on the drought.
A giant, solar-powered pipe unveiled by Vancouver researchers at Land Art Generator Initiative 2016 could end California’s drought problem. California has had state-wide drought restrictions in place for years, to the point where some have asked if the Golden State will be dry until the clock finally runs out on this ball of dirt we call the Earth. This pipe is supposed to help solve those problems by filtering seawater. Unlike the filtering systems that are already used, though, it would use electromagnetic filtration to gather drinking water without having an adverse effect on the oceans themselves.
Until 1980, water use went up steadily as population increased, necessitating investments in infrastructure and boosts to capacity. But since then, there has been a dramatic decoupling across the United States, with water use declining even as the population and the economy continued to grow. The U.S. Geological Survey found that water consumption peaked at 440 billion gallons (1,665 billion liters) per day before dropping in 1980 and then remained steady through the 1980s and 1990s. It rose slightly in 2000, but significantly declined between 2005 and 2010, when it fell to 350 billion gallons (1,325 billion liters) per day.
Is it Christmas yet? The weather patterns rolling across the Pacific Northwest and Northern California seem out of sync with the calendar, an environmental science professor said. Gregory Jones, a Southern Oregon University professor who tracks weather and climate data, said the past year was seemingly off by a month in temperature — March was like April, June was like July, and so on. And now the storms and rain of October were more typical of November.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
