Weeks of historic rainfall in California won’t be enough to end a severe drought, but it will provide public water agencies serving 27 million people with much more water than the suppliers had been told to expect a month ago, state officials announced Thursday.
The Department of Water Resources said public water agencies will now get 30% of what they had asked for, up from the 5% officials had previously announced in December.
The seven states most affected by dwindling Colorado River levels are meeting over the next few days to draft proposals for managing the basin’s water levels, potentially preventing the Interior Department from imposing its own water cuts.
The seven Colorado River Basin states — Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California — have been sparring over who receives the biggest reductions in allocations after Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton announced a 2019 deal with the states that hinged on them saving 2 million to 4 million acre-feet of water, as much as a third of the river’s flows, or the federal government would intervene.
Northern California reservoirs and the Sierra snowpack were dramatically bolstered by the string of recent storms, and that’s good news for millions of people across the state.
Just not necessarily those who live in San Diego.
The Colorado River begins as melting snow, trickling from forested peaks and coursing in streams that gather in the meadows and valleys of the Rocky Mountains.
Like arteries, its major tributaries take shape across Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico, coming together in a great river like no other — a river that travels more than 1,400 miles and has defined the rise of the American Southwest over the last century.
As of Friday morning, more than 600 colonias were without running water in Tijuana and Rosarito, where residents say service has been spotty since last year.
Facing the possibility of running out of water, Tijuana’s State Commission for Public Services, CESPT, turned to the San Diego County Water Authority for help.
Agreements in place between Mexico and the United States allow for water deliveries in times of emergency or severe drought.
The seven U.S. states along the Colorado River — Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California — are up against yet another deadline to curb their water use amid extreme drought. They have until Tuesday to agree on massive voluntary cuts or the Bureau of Reclamation, a Department of the Interior agency, has said it will impose cuts on them.
The basin states have called the federal government’s bluff before, but whatever happens next week, millions of westerners and their livelihoods will be affected.
Tens of thousands of golf fans are watching the world’s top golfers tee off at the Farmers Insurance Open. The tournament sits on towering cliffs that stand starkly against the picturesque backdrop of the Pacific Ocean.
But in that backdrop sits a worrying reminder of the tremendous power of Mother Nature — one that has forced the golf community to reevaluate its relationship with the environment.
California farmers are encouraged by the series of atmospheric river storms that brought near-record rain and snow, filling depleted reservoirs and bolstering the snowpack.
Frost Pauli, vineyard manager for Pauli Ranch in Potter Valley in Mendocino County, said he feels optimistic after three intense years of drought. He said the winter storms “have been excellent for our water supply.”
A string of winter storms that brought heavier than average snow and rain across the west increased snowpack in the Western Rockies to 146 percent of average, a gain that holds the potential to boost reservoir levels in the coming months.
Despite the extra snowpack, experts say it’s too early to tell what things will look like in the spring, and that much more steady precipitation is needed to make any significant dents in the dwindling water supply of the Colorado River.
Water is already a scarce commodity in the West, but if Colorado keeps growing we are going to need even more. One source could be treating reused drinking water. It’s a scenario water providers and the state are already planning for.
