As the state’s capital is poised to break a 141-year record for lack of rain, California’s top water bosses gathered Thursday to explain why this year has been so bad and to call on residents to redouble conservation efforts.
By many measures, this year’s drought has etched itself into the record books and is poised to get significantly worse if rainfall and snowpack levels don’t rebound over the next several months.
The state’s largest reservoirs are at historic lows, partially the result of record-low snowpacks, and thousands of water rights holders have been ordered to stop drawing from the Russian River and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watersheds.
Also, Friday will mark the 195th day since rain last fell on Sacramento, breaking a record set in 1880, according to the National Weather Service.
“As we all know, drought is part of California’s natural environment but it is now supercharged by extreme climate change,” California’s Secretary for Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot said during a video-conference media briefing.
The state has only managed to reduce overall water consumption by 2 percent, Crowfoot said, even while all but eight of the state’s 58 counties are under a drought emergency, water is being trucked in to communities across Central and Northern California, and farmers are pulling up almond orchards and vineyards.
“We’re asking everybody across the state to reduce water usage by 15 percent,” he said, noting that Gov. Gavin Newsom called for a voluntary statewide 15 percent water use reduction in June.
This year’s drought conditions are particularly bad because the lack of rain and snow was exacerbated by extremely high ambient temperatures, which lead to dry soil conditions that sucked up precipitation.
“So, while technically 1976 and 1977 was drier than 2020-2021, what happened in our reservoirs, rivers and streams was actually much lower (inflows of water),” said California Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth.
State Water Resources Control Board Chair Joaquin Esquivel said that while the drought is known to increase concentrations of pollutants in drinking water supplies, it appears that water systems have been able to remove contaminants before water reaches homes and businesses, although the cost to do so increases as drought conditions worsen.
Esquivel also said that the Water Board earmarked $1 billion to help shore up water systems in the wake of pandemic rules disallowing water shutoffs for delinquent bills.
That money will come from the $2.7 billion the Water Board will receive from the new state budget’s $5.2 billion drought response package, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last week.
While the current outlook looks grim, the speakers pointed out that the state seems to be in a better position to endure this drought for several reasons, including the fact that since 2016, 400 of the state’s larger urban water systems have been required to develop long-term drought contingency plans and the state appears to have reached an overall 16 percent water use reduction since then.
If residents don’t pitch in to further reduce consumption, however, some type of mandatory water restrictions could be implemented in the future.
… late as usua lNewsom… waits till its a crisis after he spends billions to buy votes to beat the recall
Did I miss it or was there no mention of Newsom purposely draining state water reserves for fish? Seems like that is a huge part of the current problem.
When they let golf courses go brown, I’ll consider using less water. We already don’t have a lawn and very little landscaping that requires much water.
1. Recover more water before it drains into the ocean.
2. Build more reservoirs.
3. Build desalination plants.
4. Let So. Cal. develop it’s own water strategies.
Get Politicians who work for the people, not against them.
Stop restricting water, supply the water the people need.
I can’t believe all they want is better conservation. Is there anyone in government with brains. Are they all brain dead? This is so discouraging.
Exactly.
+1 stop the high speed rail to nowhere to save billions, the handouts to those unwilling to work, and Newsom’s pet projects that he paid for with OUR surplus tax dollars … funding problem solved! …stop all the housing starts! Where’s the water coming from? They want us to ration so they can approve more housing projects?!
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… here come more climate hysteria-based taxes and fees.
.
Sick of it.
What extremely high temperatures are they talking about? It’s Summer, it’s supposed to be hot. Actually, this year has been cooler than normal, we had a few hot spells, but most of the nights got colder than usual.
Here’s an idea, halt all construction of new homes, and deport everybody in the state illegally. All the money that has been used on free stuff for illegals, can be put to better use. They can start work on desalination plants, and with all the empty housing as a result of deporting illegals, there will be more homes for legal residents.
We’ll have more housing, and more water. Everybody is happy, (except for the illegals, who should never have been here in the first place.)
Statewide response my butt! So far for at least 40 past years statewide response is a joke and it will continue to be a joke. Nothing will change as usual..
They built the oil pipeline, so why can’t they build a WATER pipeline from Washington and Oregon down to California? Build new reservoirs to hold the incoming water. Doesn’t sound impossible.
Appropriate engineers explained on TV special yesterday that the problems are the cost of infrastructure build, plus infighting between states as to “where”, plus battling with property owners along routes, plus the environmental impact, plus the fossil fuel energy required to pump water through the system.
In our area, I’m thinking we should already have built desalinization plants and pipe/canal systems.
Amazing how certain politicians can put their ideas in little boxes in their minds, totally separate from other ideas so one idea does not impact another. This little box of “there is a drought” does not impact the little box “there is a shortage of houses and we need to build more.” Do an MRI scan on these leaders and their brains would like like a brick wall with all the little boxes, safely separated from each other.
Since we have gone through this drill many times in the last 40 yrs, how about stopping all the pension spiking that is the real problem with people that wish their ill conceived wills upon the taxpayer?
Maybe start using some water from Hetch Hetchy perhaps? I know that would kind of deter some waterboard honchos a place of respit to ‘get away’ for the weekend, But………….it is no coincidence that Hetch Hetchy is full to the brim all the time and the others are……not so much.
Like I said last month: One of the biggest reservoirs in northern Ca is Just west of Orinda. That is Briones Reservoir; and it is full to the top!
I was looking at an article this morning showing a map that rain is expected here beginning on the 5th. Love nothing more than to see it rain on the power mongers parade!
Like I said last month: One of the biggest reservoirs in northern Ca is Just west of Orinda. That is Briones Reservoir; and it is full to the top!
We had about 6 inches of rain last week. Really greened up the yard. No flooding on the troll’s acreage.
As for Kleptofornica, there have been how many water bond measures spending how much money over the past 20 years? And what does the state have to show for it?
California should have a program for constructing dams up and down the state, creating groundwater recharge stations, make better use of ‘grey’ water and investigate desalination. But this would require that adults were at the helm of state.
If you hate the problems the government causes just wait until you see the solutions.
Break the state in half, build a WALL and a MOAT. We’ll all stay up here retired in beautiful state of Jefferson (formerly Northern CA. and southern Oregon) living off payments for our water from new state of librafornia.
One condition, they take newsom and state legislature.
They can’t have it both ways, eventually you run out of water…You cannot allow any housing high density or otherwise until you built an infrastructure to support more houses. i.e. water storage. How is it they keep telling us they follow the science on masks but can’t seem to do simple math with water storage?