Continuing my comments from last week regarding California’s water supply and conservation, I am reminded of a trip to Chico some 35 years ago. Our family was living through our second drought since moving here in 1973. You may recall a couple of years ago I wrote how this state is subject to recurring droughts roughly every 7 to 10 years. Dry years are nothing new.
California’s major reservoirs are nearly full thanks to two wet winters, the Sierra snowpack is deeper than usual and the state is likely to receive even more rain and snow this spring.
There’s no issue more important to California than having a reliable supply of water, but the situation is increasingly uncertain from both immediate and long-term perspectives.
California’s statewide Sierra Nevada snowpack—the source of nearly one-third of the state’s water supply—is at its lowest level in a decade, a major turnaround from last year when huge storms ended a three-year drought and buried ski resorts in massive amounts of snow.
Millions of Southern Californians who were required to dramatically reduce their water use last year will have increased access to water in the future under two projects recently announced by the Metropolitan Water District.
Metropolitan—the nation’s largest water wholesaler and sole water provider to the local Las Virgenes and Calleguas municipal water districts—approved a $9.8-million contract for the Sepulveda Feeder Pump Stations Project that will bring additional water from the Colorado River, as well as water stored at Diamond Valley Lake in Riverside County, to the two local districts.
California farmers are putting a big target on Glen Canyon Dam, telling the federal government it’s time to take a serious look at suggestions to stop using the dam to produce electricity. Talk of decommissioning the dam has been on the fringe of criticism of U.S. Bureau of Reclamation management of the Colorado River, but it could gain momentum as public comment is released in the coming days.
Tropical Storm Hilary swept over the Golden State on Sunday, bringing a massive amount of precipitation along with during what is normally the driest time of the year, when wildfires are always a looming issue. The record-breaking rains left a trail of floods, mudslides and debris flows in their wake, with parts of Southern California left to pick up the pieces to start the new week. But, did the storm actually do anything to impact the state’s water supply?
Californians could drink highly purified sewage water that is piped directly into drinking water supplies for the first time under proposed rules unveiled by state water officials. The drought-prone state has turned to recycled water for more than 60 years to bolster its scarce supplies, but the current regulations require it to first make a pit stop in a reservoir or an aquifer before it can flow to taps.
The California Water Resources Control Board is accepting public comment through July 28 on new recommendations to expedite permits for seawater desalination plants in the state.
Much has been written on potential effects and adaptations for California’s water supply from climate warming, particularly from changes in snowpack accumulation and melting, sea level rise, and possible overall drying or wetting trends. But what about floods?
