Rep. Scott Peters and Sen. Alex Padilla introduced legislation Tuesday to help alleviate the western water crisis, stemming from the long-term drought conditions affecting the Colorado River and its reservoirs.
The Biden administration signed agreements with California water agencies Wednesday to conserve a significant share of water through 2025, part of a larger effort to stave off potential disaster in the drought-stricken Colorado River Basin.
The deals, including some expected to be signed as soon as next week, will save 643,000 acre-feet of water — nearly 210 billion gallons — in Lake Mead, the Bureau of Reclamation said.
As forecasts tease California with rainstorms this week, the state’s reservoirs are already flush with water.
It’s a big departure from a year ago: The state’s major reservoirs — which store water collected mostly from rivers in the northern portion of the state — are in good shape, with levels at 124% of average. In late 2022, bathtub rings of dry earth lined lakes that had collectively dipped to about two-thirds of average — until heavy winter storms in January filled many of them almost to the brim.
The last time Lake Oroville neared capacity was four years ago, and very quickly it plunged into drought territory and has seen low water levels until this winter. And now that billion-dollar, renovated spillway is back in use as the reservoir is back at 99% of its capacity.
The Feather River is getting a fair amount of extra water flow these days as Lake Oroville has been releasing water over the last week. Oroville is California’s second-largest reservoir, with a capacity of over 3.5 million acre-feet of water, and also just about at capacity is the state’s largest reservoir, Lake Shasta, which has a capacity of 4.5 million acre-feet and is at 98%.
Southern California is bracing for a cold winter storm this weekend that is expected to bring up to 5 feet of snow accumulation in certain areas.
While this forecast might curtail your outdoor weekend plans, it is excellent news for the state’s recovering water reservoirs.
I don’t see how this ends well.
Most of the major players – the ones that matter, anyway, by which I mean Arizona, California, and the federal government – appear boxed in by constraints they can’t seem to overcome, while the water in the Colorado River’s big reservoirs is circling the drains.
The nice weather in January is setting the wrong record.
From a wet December to a dry January, this month saw such little precipitation it marks the second driest January on record.
“We need 20 to 21 inches more of precipitation over the Sierra to close the season out to finish at normal,” said Craig Shoemaker, a meteorologist and climate program manager for the National Weather Service.
An unlikely energy sector is emerging as a winner from the West’s megadrought: fossil fuels, whose heavy use has been blamed for creating the conditions causing the drought in the first place.
The drought has slashed the electricity-generating capacity of major hydroelectric dams, forcing buyers to spend millions of dollars to buy extra power from an expensive sellers’ market.
In 2014, in the middle of a severe drought that would test California’s complex water storage system like never before, voters told the state to borrow $7.5 billion and use part of it to build projects to stockpile more water.
Seven years later, that drought has come and gone, replaced by an even hotter and drier one that is draining the state’s reservoirs at an alarming rate. But none of the more than half-dozen water storage projects scheduled to receive that money have been built.
The city of Roseville plans to take 1.2 billion gallons from its wells to supply about 53,000 households with running water this summer.
State reservoirs have receded to their lowest point in years. To prepare for dry seasons, Roseville has invested in new technology to boost its groundwater supply by ingesting water from previous snowmelt and rainy seasons into underground wells so when water is most needed, the city isn’t entirely reliant on Folsom Lake.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
