It’s been a wild couple of weeks of weather in Northern California. But there is a rather bright silver lining to this train of storms: our surface water supply is getting a big boost.
Water from the Colorado River covers more than a third of Arizona’s total water usage, but the state is increasingly losing access to that supply.
The state is no longer in what Terry Goddard, the president of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District Board of Directors, called “a fool’s paradise.” Arizona had maintined a surplus of water since the mid-1980s, but that’s not the case today. Now, it’s losing water, and it’s losing it fast.
Even with a sixth atmospheric river in two weeks dumping rain on California, water regulators said reservoirs are not likely to completely refill this year. As of Sunday, the state’s 17 reservoirs were at 78% of average, the Department of Water Resources announced Monday.
“We’re still below average,” said Jon Yarbrough, assistant deputy director for the State Water Project, the California agency that collects water from Northern California rivers and redistributes it to major cities. “We still have a lot of room in our reservoirs to take in the in-flows that we’re seeing on the horizon here.”
While many areas of California are coping with the destructive impact of relentless rainfall, the news is nothing but good when it comes to the state’s snowpack. As of Monday, California’s snow water equivalent was 199% of normal for the date (January 9), according to the California Department of Water Resources.
The Imperial Irrigation District (IID) announced that the company’s director, Gina Dockstader, will join the California Farm Water Coalition (CFWC). In a news release, Dockstader’s fellow IID board members selected her to serve as a liaison.
For years, water infrastructure in California has awaited critical repair. In the midst of perpetual drought and water unavailability, the state has been unable to repair the storage facilities that store water when it does finally rain.
California’s major reservoirs have seen significant gains in water level in recent days after two weeks of exceptionally heavy rain across the state. It comes after months of severe drought in the region, leaving water levels in the state’s most important reservoirs well below their historical average.
The California snowpack is starting off strong, raising hopes for water resources throughout the drought-stricken state. But for farmers, these high numbers may not translate into more water for their crops.
The amount of snow high up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains has a direct impact on the fields of crops below. Jason Giannelli, a fourth generation farmer in Kern County who grew up in the farm life, understands this.
Elected officials in Marina have joined forces with three water agencies in a lawsuit against the California Coastal Commission over its tentative permitting in November of California American Water Co.’s desalination project.
One hundred years ago — little more than a lifetime — nature and the Colorado River conspired almost every spring to ravage soil, rocks, vegetation and anything else in the river’s path on its rapacious way to the Pacific Ocean. The river overran its banks to flood California’s Imperial Valley plus other low-lying ground in Arizona, Mexico and California. It filled those valleys with fertile mountain soil.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
