Tag Archive for: Drought

Gary Croucher-Board Chair-San Diego County Water Authority-Primary

Historic ‘Level 1’ Shortage Declared for Lake Mead, Though San Diego Still Has Reliable Supply

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Federal officials on Monday issued the first “Level 1” shortage declaration for the massive reservoir of Lake Mead on the Colorado River, triggering major water cuts for Arizona, Nevada and Mexico.

The cuts for water users downstream from Hoover Dam will begin in October, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said in a statement.

“Today’s announcement of a Level 1 Shortage Condition at Lake Mead underscores the value of the collaborative agreements we have in place with the seven basin states, tribes, water users and Mexico in the management of water in the Colorado River Basin,” said Reclamation Deputy Commissioner Camille Touton.

But she warned that other reservoirs were short as well and “we have not eliminated the potential for continued decline of these critically important reservoirs” during what has become a historic drought.

Total Colorado River system storage is currently at 40% of capacity, down from 49% at this time last year.

Read the complete story from the Times of San Diego: https://bit.ly/3AOLUaE

Historic ‘Level 1’ Shortage Declared for Lake Mead, Though San Diego Still Has Reliable Supply

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

Federal officials on Monday issued the first-ever “Level 1” shortage declaration for the massive reservoir of Lake Mead on the Colorado River, triggering major water cuts for Arizona, Nevada and Mexico.

The cuts for water users downstream from Hoover Dam will begin in October, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said in a statement.

“Today’s announcement of a Level 1 Shortage Condition at Lake Mead underscores the value of the collaborative agreements we have in place with the seven basin states, tribes, water users and Mexico in the management of water in the Colorado River Basin,” said Reclamation Deputy Commissioner Camille Touton.

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Chair Croucher: Help Protect San Diego County Through Voluntary Efforts

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Aug. 16, 2021 – San Diego County Water Authority Board Chair Gary Croucher today issued a statement in response to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announcing the first formal shortages on the Colorado River for 2022. In addition, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s Board of Directors is expected to increase its drought alert level tomorrow.

“Declining water availability on the Colorado River and worsening drought conditions statewide underscore the importance of collective actions to ensure reliable water supplies not only for today, but for next year and for future generations. Thankfully, the San Diego region has prepared for dry periods and our water supplies will continue to sustain our economy and quality of life. At the same time, we are working with our partners at the regional, state, and federal levels to advance water management solutions for the Southwest because we realize that we are all in this together.

“The quickest way to help defeat drought is to eliminate water waste at homes and businesses, and we stand with MWD and Governor Newsom in supporting voluntary water-use efficiencies. There are several ways to do that: checking irrigation systems for leaks and repairing them quickly; keeping chilled water in the fridge instead of running the tap to let it cool; keeping showers to 5 minutes or fewer; applying mulch around plants to reduce evaporation. With those steps and others, we will emerge from this drought stronger together.”

— Gary Croucher, Board Chair, San Diego County Water Authority

Gary Croucher-Board Chair-San Diego County Water Authority-Primary

Gary Croucher, Board Chair, San Diego County Water Authority

(Editor’s note: Water efficiency tips, rebates and other resources are at www.watersmartsd.org.)

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Megadrought Spurs First-Ever Federal Colorado River Cutbacks

/in , , /by /E & E Newsby Jeremy P. Jacobs

The Biden administration today will declare a water shortage on the Colorado River for the first time ever, triggering cutbacks in the Southwest due to a decadeslong drought that experts say is a sign of what’s to come.

Bureau of Reclamation officials will announce that water levels in the river’s main reservoirs have dropped so low they have triggered mandatory delivery reductions in Arizona and Nevada.

The announcement comes as heat waves and wildfires are scorching the West, presenting the Biden administration with another crisis. A 20-year “megadrought” in the seven-state Colorado River Basin has caused Lake Mead and Lake Powell to drop to levels not seen since they were originally filled a half-century ago.

“This drought has come on faster and harder than last time,” said Ellen Hanak, the director of the water policy center at the Public Policy Institute of California, referring to the last Golden State drought that ended in 2016. “We are in year two, but we’re in as bad a shape as year three of what was a record drought last time.”

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Small Towns Grow Desperate for Water in California

/in , , /by /The New York Timesby Thomas Fuller

As a measure of both the nation’s creaking infrastructure and the severity of the drought gripping California there is the $5 shower.

That’s how much Ian Roth, the owner of the Seagull Inn, a bed-and-breakfast in this tourist town three hours north of San Francisco, spends on water every time a guest washes for five minutes under the shower nozzle.

Water is so scarce in Mendocino, an Instagram-ready collection of pastel Victorian homes on the edge of the Pacific, that restaurants have closed their restrooms to guests, pointing them instead to portable toilets on the sidewalk.

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California, Oregon Braced for Another Extremist Water Rebellion. Why It’s Calm, So Far

/in , , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan Sabalow

Anti-government activists seemed primed for a violent clash with federal authorities this summer in the Klamath Basin along the California-Oregon border.

The federal Bureau of Reclamation had shut off water for most of the region’s 1,400 farms, denying access to the same irrigation canal in Klamath Falls, Ore., where during a drought two decades earlier, activists tried to pry open its headgates and clashed with U.S. marshals.

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Napa County Recycled Water Used at Record Levels Amid Drought

/in , , /by /Napa Valley Registerby Barry Eberling

Napa Valley Country Club golf course is lush and green, thanks to the purple pipe.

A two-year drought is helping to boost Napa County’s recycled water use to record levels. The Napa Sanitation District wastewater treatment plant provides enough non-potable irrigation water annually to fill St. Helena’s Bell Canyon reservoir and more.

Napa Valley Country Club in rural Coombsville started piping water from the plant six miles away in late 2015. That allows it to depend less on a well in an area where groundwater levels have long been a concern.

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As Drought Worsens, Southland Residents Face New Calls for Water Conservation

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hayley Smith

As drought conditions worsen, public officials in Southern California are beginning to take steps to conserve dwindling resources.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California — one of the largest water distributors in the nation — is weighing whether to declare a supply alert for the first time in seven years, officials said.

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California’s Dry Season is Turning Into a Permanent State of Being

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Greenby David R Baker, Brian K Sullivan, Josh Saul

Drought across the Western U.S. has forced California to ration water to farms. Hydroelectric dams barely work. The smallest spark — from a lawnmower or even a flat tire — can explode into a wildfire.

While this region has always had dry summers, they’re supposed to follow a pattern that leads to relief with the arrival of the annual rainy season in November. But a break is no longer guaranteed.

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Stanislaus River Basin Suffering from Its 5th Driest Year Since 1901

/in , , /by /Manteca/Ripon Bulletinby Dennis Wyatt

On any given day a small group of farmers gather behind Jimmy’s One Stop on Airport Way, kick back in resin patio chairs and shoot the breeze under a canopy of ragged trees.

If they glance to the east they can see the future of Manteca — as well as farmers in the South San Joaquin and Oakdale irrigation districts plus struggling Chinook salmon in the Stanislaus — flow by in the San Joaquin River.

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