Tag Archive for: California drought

Facing Drought, Southern California Has More Water Than Ever

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Quintby Laura Bliss

The cracked and desiccated shoreline of Lake Mendocino made a telling backdrop for California Governor Gavin Newsom’s message at a news conference last week: Drought conditions are here, and climate change makes the situation graver.  But water supplies vary across regions, which is why the governor limited a drought emergency declaration to just two northern counties. In fact, highly urbanized Southern California has a record 3.2 million acre-feet of water in reserve, enough to quench the population’s needs this year and into the next.

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Major Bay Area Water District on Brink of Declaring Stage 1 Drought

/in , /by /SF Gateby Amy Graff

After two exceptionally dry California winters, the East Bay Municipal Utility District is on the brink of declaring a stage 1 drought and asking customers to establish a district-wide voluntary water use reduction of 10 percent.

The utility district’s board of directors is meeting Tuesday night and district staff members will present the 2021 Water Supply Availability and Deficiency Report and make the recommendation.

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Water Authority Offers to Help Parched Areas of California with Stored Supply in Central Valley

/in , , /by /Times of San Diego by Chris Jennewein Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority’s board has directed its staff to explore opportunities to help other water districts weather an emerging drought across California.

The authority said that because of three decades of investment in supply reliability, along with a continued emphasis on water-use efficiency, the San Diego region has sufficient water supplies for multiple dry years.

Those investments include high-priority Colorado River water from the Imperial Valley, seawater desalination, and access to the Semitropic Original Water Bank in Kern County, where the authority has stored about 16,000 acre-feet of water — enough to supply more than 30,000 homes for a full year.

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Opinion: California Drought Declaration is a Difficult Dance

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board

Gov. Gavin Newsom made headlines last week when he declared a drought emergency for our severely dry state — but only in two of California’s 58 counties, Mendocino and Sonoma. Some farmers in the Central Valley and others with water interests had hoped for a statewide edict.

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Historically Low Water at Lake Sonoma Points to Potentially Devastating Drought

/in , , /by /KPIX 5 CBS SF Bay Areaby Da Lin

Sonoma County is facing a historic drought after two dry winters and, on Tuesday, county supervisors are expected to proclaim a drought emergency.

“We’re looking, today, at the lowest level our reservoirs have ever been since they were built,” said Brad Sherwood, the spokesman at Sonoma Water.

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Opinion: As Drought Hits California, Long-Term Issues Loom

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Dan Walters

By the time this column is published, Northern California may be receiving some much-needed rain, and possibly some snow. However, late-season precipitation does not change the reality that California is in one of its periodic droughts after two dry years.

Major Northern California reservoirs are only about half-full due to scanty runoff from mountain snowpacks, farmers are getting tiny percentages of their normal water allotments, and local water agencies are beginning to impose restrictions on household use.

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Opinion: The Drought Isn’t Coming, California. It’s Already Here

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicle by Chornicle Editorial Board

Longtime Bay Area residents are all too familiar with ground-parching droughts, those years when our hills are late turning green and early turning brown. Now it looks like we’ve entered another dry patch barely four years after emerging from the last one — an ominous sign that our meteorological cycles of boom and bust are picking up speed.

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Gov. Newsom Declares Drought Emergency in 2 California Counties

/in , , /by /Times of San Diegoby Rachel Becker (CalMatters) Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a drought emergency for parched water systems along the Russian River watershed that serve hundreds of thousands of Californians in two counties. Most of the state is suffering severe drought conditions due to low rainfall and snowpack, but state water officials said that the other regions aren’t hit hard enough yet to declare a statewide emergency.

The targeted approach drew praise from the San Diego County Water Authority, which at this point has sufficient supply.

“We applaud Governor Newsom for taking a targeted, flexible, and iterative approach to drought management that provides support for individual regions that are suffering from drought while also recognizing regions like San Diego County that have sufficient water supplies due to three decades of investments in supply reliability,” said Water Authority Board Chair Gary Croucher.

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Water Authority Offers Help to Regions in Need During Drought

/in , , /by /Water News Network Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors April 22 authorized staff to explore opportunities to help other water districts weather an emerging drought across California. Three decades of investments in supply reliability, along with a continued emphasis on water-use efficiency, mean the San Diego region has sufficient water supplies for multiple dry years. Those investments include high-priority conserved water from the Imperial Valley, seawater desalination, and access to the Semitropic Original Water Bank in Kern County, where the Water Authority has stored about 16,000 acre-feet of water.

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Opinion: What Can Help Get Us Through This Drought

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Chandra Chilmakuri

Living in California means living with droughts – there’s no getting around it.

The devastating 2014-15 drought resulted in water shortages for our communities, farms and the environment, prompting California’s water leaders and decision-makers to implement early planning, improved collaboration, added conservation measures and new local supply projects to help balance the water needs of people and fish in preparing for the drought that is currently before us.

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