From the 188,000 Oroville residents who were evacuated two weeks ago, to the 14,000 in San Jose who had to be rescued from contaminated water, no Californian has been unaffected by the historic storms beating down on our state. Sometimes it feels like it will never end, reminding us of past floods and the challenges that result from so much water coming in such a short period.
Recent rains have not washed away the growing threat of water scarcity in the San Joaquin Valley, California’s largest agricultural region. Over time it could bring disruptive changes not only to the region’s farmers but also to rural communities, the local economy, and the state as a whole. Resolving this problem will take creativity and cooperation.
After 1,892 days, the drought is over in San Joaquin County. That’s the conclusion of the federal government, which Thursday morning issued new maps showing the entire county — and indeed, 79 percent of the state — free from any kind of drought designation. For San Joaquin, it is the first time since Dec. 27, 2011. Portions of San Joaquin had still been considered “abnormally dry” heading into this week, but the U.S. Drought Monitor lifted that finding Thursday, citing an improvement in groundwater levels across the San Joaquin Valley.
Two things ought to come to mind in California when President Trump says he plans to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure. And no, they’re not “Oroville” and “San Jose,” although those are good clues. The first is that if the federal government is going to prioritize vast new infrastructure spending, California’s water projects should be near the top of the list. Bring it on. Much of the Sacramento Valley was threatened last month when high water levels at the massive Oroville Dam caused torrents to flow down damaged or poorly built spillways.
How much did the recent series of rain storms in California contribute to lessening the state’s drought conditions? The National Weather Service office in San Diego tweeted a satellite photo showing California finally “greening up”. NWS San Diego also tweeted changes at Lake Hodges. A 2014 photo shows an area of the lake completely dry. A March 1, 2017 comparison photo shows the lake filled with water.
In a development that would ease pressure on Oroville Dam’s badly damaged concrete spillway, state officials say the dam’s power plant may be operational by midday Friday. The Hyatt Power Plant stopped functioning as a massive mound of concrete, earth and debris formed in the channel below the 3,000-foot concrete spillway, which fractured Feb. 7.
A power plant at the foot of the Oroville Dam, closed last month after a portion of the reservoir was overwhelmed by rising waters, could begin tests as early as Friday in anticipation of reopening, state water officials said. The Hyatt power plant, which provides drinking water and power and helps the Department of Water Resources control water levels at the state’s second largest reservoir, has been offline since the emergency that led to evacuations.
An end to California’s historic drought may finally be in sight, but it seems that the state’s water crisis is a mere drop in the bucket in relation to the decades of dirty dealings probed in the revealing National Geographic documentary, “Water & Power: A California Heist.” From the Monterey Amendments, a contentious policy that favored select Central Valley farmers, to the current ecologically problematic practice of groundwater extraction which could potentially create vast sinkholes, corporate thirst for control over the aquifer is emerging as the next environmental battleground.
What does water that once came from a toilet taste like? Pretty bland, actually. “Our water goes through five different treatment steps, so it essentially purifies it,” says Brent Eidson, deputy director of external affairs at San Diego’s Public Utilities Department. “It almost strips the water of everything, so there’s not a whole lot of taste or anything left in it.”
Lawmakers, regulators and environmental groups in San Diego County are calling on federal officials to investigate a massive sewage spill in the Tijuana River that some people believe Mexico may have intentionally caused and then refused to explain much about it. Mexican authorities have yet to give a full accounting of how, without advance notice, an estimated 143 million gallons of effluent spewed into the river during 17 days that ended on Feb. 23.
