Mount Shasta has long symbolized the grandeur of California’s far north, its muscular flanks and thick cover of snow an enduring expression of nature’s bounty.
But this summer, the north state’s tallest peak is looking a little frail. Its slopes are drab and dusty, and most of the snow has melted away. Locals say they haven’t seen the mountain so barren in years, if not decades.
The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution implementing a water hauling assistance program at a special meeting on Aug. 24, which will focus on trucking raw water from Ukiah to the Summer Lane reservoir in Fort Bragg to be treated — where it would then be trucked to Mendocino.
The board discussed applying for a grant from the Department of Water Resources that would cover much of the cost for residential uses, though the logistics remain uncertain for business use. In the meantime, $1.5 million will be allocated for the trucking program.
Drought conditions continue to worsen after an update was presented to the Butte County Board of Supervisors during Tuesday’s meeting.
Christina Buck, chair of the county’s drought task force and assistant director of Water and Resources Conservation said there are more dry wells being reported as well as a shortage of supplies like storage tanks and well materials.
With the city’s sewage water recycling system moving forward and the desalination plant in Carlsbad already pumping out drinkable water, the San Diego region has some of the most ambitious water projects in the state.
Those are part of a long-term strategy that San Diego water managers say will provide the region sufficient supplies through 2045.
Nevertheless, the San Diego County Water Authority earlier this month urged customers to voluntarily reduce water use by 15 percent following a similar statewide request by Gov. Gavin Newsom. It was more an act of solidarity than one of actual need.
The U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday announced a new kind of climate observatory near the headwaters of the Colorado River that will help scientists better predict rain and snowfall in the U.S. West and determine how much of it will flow through the region.
The multimillion-dollar effort led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory launches next week. The team has set up radar systems, balloons, cameras and other equipment in an area of Colorado where much of the water in the river originates as snow. More than 40 million people depend on the Colorado River.
In New York City, a tropical storm delivered record-breaking rains this weekend. Heavy downpours caused devastating flash floods in central Tennessee, tearing apart houses and killing more than 20 people. Yet, California and much of the West remained in the deepest drought in at least two decades, the product of a long-term precipitation shortfall and temperatures that are much hotter than usual.
This divide, a wetter East and a drier West, reflects a broader pattern observed in the United States in recent decades.
The Senate Rules Committee last week unanimously approved Gov. Gavin Newsom’s reappointment of Joaquin Esquivel as chair of the State Water Resources Control Board. Esquivel fielded questions from senators covering a range of contentious issues the administration has been grappling with across two presidential administration and an extreme drought.
In response to worsening drought conditions, the board of Southern California’s regional water wholesaler and other water agencies across the Southwest have announced a partnership with the federal government to fund a short-term agricultural land fallowing program in California that will conserve water on a large scale.
The partnership among the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Central Arizona Project, Southern Nevada Water Authority, and the Palo Verde Irrigation District is expected to help conserve up to 180,000 acre-feet of water over the next three years, amounting to about a 3-feet increase in Lake Mead’s water level.
After declaring a State 2 water alert, the City of Sacramento is asking residents to reduce their water usage by 15%.
In a press release, city council called on residents, businesses, and city operations to voluntarily lower their water usage. For those looking to wash their car, Tuesday’s declaration means they’ll only be allowed to do so on the property’s watering days, which is currently restricted to two days a week. Fines for water waste will also be doubled.
