Three more big Bay Area water agencies are calling on residents to conserve water as drought looms in California following two consecutive extraordinarily dry winters.
Board members with both the East Bay Municipal Utility District and Sonoma Water approved proclamations Tuesday to declare drought emergencies.
Federal dollars are on the table to help farmers and ranchers during the drought. The U.S. Department of Agriculture declared a drought disaster in 50 California counties last month. Grants are now available to help with costs associated with the dry conditions.
Bracing for expanding drought conditions and dwindling local water supply, the Nevada Irrigation District Board of Directors proclaimed a drought emergency throughout the District’s service area, which includes portions of Nevada, Placer, Yuba counties. The declaration was made during the Board’s April 28 meeting.
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.
Climate change and drought will impact San Diego County’s climate future, but regional water supply planning and adaptation measures will ensure a safe, reliable supply for the region.
Water supply strategy was one of the key points participants learned about during a Monday panel discussion, “San Diego County’s Climate Future,” hosted online by the San Diego County Water Authority, Citizens Water Academy, Leaders 20/20 and San Diego Green Drinks.
Climate change and drought will impact San Diego County’s climate future, but regional water supply planning and adaptation measures will ensure a safe, reliable supply for the region.
Water supply strategy was one of the key points participants learned about during a Monday panel discussion, “San Diego County’s Climate Future,” hosted online by the San Diego County Water Authority, Citizens Water Academy, Leaders 20/20 and San Diego Green Drinks.
Panel moderator Kelley Gage, Water Authority Director of Water Resources, kicked off the climate conversation by describing the investments and steps taken by the Water Authority and its 24 member agencies to secure the region’s water future.
“Since our founding more than 75 years ago, our mission in partnership with our 24 member agencies is to ensure a clean and reliable supply of water for the region,” said Gage. “As part of that mission we’re involved in partnerships like the one that we have today and the research to ensure that we have planned for the impact of climate change in our water supplies.”
Gage said the Water Authority has developed a climate action plan.
“As part of our strategic planning we have developed a climate action plan which is an interdisciplinary effort to promote and coordinate implementation of climate change strategies and related activities across the Water Authority,” said Gage. “We have reached our goals for 2020 and we are on track for our 2030 goals.”
The Water Authority partnered with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Center for Wester Weather and Water Extremes, at UC San Diego in 2020 to better predict atmospheric rivers and improve water management before, during, and after those seasonal storms. The Center and its partners share best practices in forecast-informed reservoir operations, increased research around atmospheric rivers and droughts, and develop strategies for mitigating flood risk and increasing water supply reliability.
Marty Ralph, Researcher in Climate, Atmospheric Science & Physical Oceanography at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, opened the panel with information on advanced research around atmospheric rivers.
Atmospheric rivers are long narrow bands of airborne water vapor, providing up to half the annual precipitation and mountain snow that is key to California’s water supply. New research allows reservoir operators to use atmospheric river forecasts to better predict storm events and prevent unnecessary stored water releases.
“This stored water has helped to cope with the third driest year on record for the region,” said Ralph.
Another Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher, Alexander “Sasha” Gershunov, said that California receives most the country’s extreme precipitation events due to atmospheric rivers. Low and medium intensity precipitation events are predicted to decrease, while high intensity precipitation events are predicted to increase, especially in California.
“With warming, atmospheric rivers get stronger, wetter, longer, and more impactful, and they also produce more of our annual precipitation total,” said Gershunov. “There are many implications of these changes from water resources management, to wildfires, to debris flows.”
Darbi Berry, Program Manager at the San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative, described projects moving forward in the region to address equity issues related to water availability and pollution. Advancing the Nexus of Water and Equity looks at how different communities are impacted by a changing climate.
Increased variability in rainfall events and the potential for flooding in the San Diego region is a contributing factor to ongoing water quality issues in disadvantaged neighborhoods. One project carried out to address these equity issues is the National City, Paradise Creek project which re-graded a creek that was continuously overflowing and causing flood damage during atmospheric river events.
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.
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.
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.
In March, San Diego County Water Authority staff judged water-related projects by students at the 67th annual Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair. Judging the fair is a longstanding tradition at the Water Authority and a component of the education outreach program. For decades, the Water Authority has recognized the top water-related projects with a scholarship and award. This year’s fair was conducted in a virtual format, but more than 280 students still brought their best projects to the table.
