The answer to our drought may come from what we call Atmospheric Rivers, or ARs for short. Seven out of the last 12 droughts ended when these big fire hoses of water in the sky took aim at California. ARs can carry about the same amount of water as 20 Mississippi Rivers! And now we just found out ARs also produce another transport of the abundant moisture. It’s called a Sierra Barrier Jet.
The State Water Resources Board has released the draft of a Scientific Basis Report that looks at fisheries and water flows in the Sacramento River and Bay-Delta region. The area supplies 80 percent of the Valley’s water. The report issued Oct. 19 follows by several weeks a draft study sent out for comment on the other major river that flows into the Delta, the San Joaquin River, which feeds the federal Central Valley Project. Zone 7 Water Agency is suppled by the State Water Project from the Shasta Dam on the Sacramento River.
As of January 1, watering lawns within Santa Barbara city limits will be outlawed in response to Southern California’s worsening drought and the South Coast’s all-but-empty reservoirs. While the City Council was unanimous about the watering ban, there was much heated discussion about the possibility of water rationing and even a moratorium on new development.
October’s rains put a modest dent in California’s drought, leaving the state in its best shape in more than three years, according to data released Thursday. The U.S. Drought Monitor’s weekly report showed that 12 percent of California, all in the northernmost counties, is now considered drought-free. That’s the highest percentage since March 2013. A year ago, all four counties in the Sacramento region were in “exceptional drought,” the worst classification. Most of Sacramento and Yolo counties remain in “severe drought” status.
Over the past five years, Californians have been trained to turn the faucet off when brushing their teeth, allow their lawns to turn dusty brown and keep their gardens alive using dishwater. These tactics, among others, allowed urban water users to reduce their average consumption by almost 25 percent in 2015. Those caught wasting water were publicly shamed by the media. The state’s almond industry, especially, has been vilified for its intensive use of California’s precious water.
This permanent shift in the way Californians use and think about water is apparent in communities up and down the state where lawns are being replaced with water-wise landscapes thanks in part to the hundreds of millions of dollars in rebates offered by state and local agencies. Water customers also are changing out toilets and appliances indoors, making meaningful water-use reductions that can be sustained into the future. Last winter’s modest storms and smart planning and investments by local water agencies allowed Californians to move beyond drastic emergency measures required in 2015 to more sustainable practices.
Yumi Wong adores the latest addition to her southern California home: a lush, emerald lawn. “It just looks much nicer with all the green. It feels clean and peaceful,” she said on Tuesday, padding across the 2,800-sq-ft grass expanse. “I thought about artificial turf but I just wanted the real stuff back.” It arrived last week, a boon for her two children, two dogs and tortoise, and fitted right into Rancho Cucamonga, a neighbourhood east of Los Angeles. “Here nobody on the street has got rid of grass,” said Wong, 36, a physician’s assistant.
Gov. Jerry Brown has been around long enough to have learned to pick his battles carefully, especially when it comes to navigating the complicated thicket of initiatives on the California ballot next week. So it is notable that Mr. Brown has started a full-scale campaign to defeat one of them: Proposition 53, which would require voter approval before the state could issue bonds for projects over $2 billion, financed with user fees, such as tolls. The measure has been championed by Dean Cortopassi, a wealthy farmer and landowner who lives near Stockton.
Poseidon Water came to terms with two state agencies and a regional water board to streamline the permitting process for a planned desalination plant in Huntington Beach, it was announced Oct. 13. The joint agreement included Poseidon Water, California Coastal Commission, California State Lands Commission and the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board. A statement released by Poseidon claimed the joint agreement would “clearly define the remaining permitting process.” Changes to and clarification of the permitting process should help Poseidon proceed with its Coastal Development Permit, or CDP.
California is entering what could be a sixth year of drought, despite a wet October. The drought is not over in the sense that surface water storage has not fully recovered – the state would need three Folsom Reservoirs filled to the brim. And our groundwater reserves have been drawn down – it would take 12 full Folsom Reservoirs stored underground to return to pre-drought levels. The drought has had devastating effects on forests and fish populations. Even if we have a wet winter, groundwater depletion will remain an issue for years, as will ecosystem recovery.
