With all the fires raging in Southern California, we see that droughts can mean a lot more than simple water shortage. Droughts are a certainty in California, something you can count on. In many ways, the California drought is as much a given as the Kansas tornado or Louisiana hurricane. Many people remember the drought of 1986-91 and the more recent one of 2006-2011 for their devastation, particularly to agriculture. Now we find ourselves in yet another drought, experiencing what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has called our worst dry spell on record. On January 17 Governor Jerry Brown declared it an emergency, and the drought has begun to take a toll on the lives of ordinary Californians.
The map to the right, courtesy of the U.S. Drought Monitor, shows the varying levels of drought throughout California. The orange represents “severe,” the red is “extreme,” and the maroon is “exceptional” — the agency’s highest level!
In many California cities, citizens are facing water restrictions with limits on their ability to water lawns. Meanwhile, food prices are way up due to the drought.
“California produces nearly 50 percent of the nation’s fruits, vegetables, and nuts — they’re kind of the nation’s garden,” Denise Gutzmer, a drought impact specialist at National Drought Mitigation Center, told HuffPost. “We’re going to be seeing higher produce prices in the store this summer.”
The problem is hitting farmers hard as they’re receiving virtually no federal water at a time when snow-water content throughout the state is at 29 percent of its typical average. With rainfall in Southern California over the past two years at roughly 60 percent of the average amount, the dryness of the land in many places means that even several significant rainstorms may not generate enough water to cause runoff into the streams and reservoirs to end the drought.
While the problems arising from the periodic droughts surprise no-one, what rankles is the lack of legislation proactively addressing the problem. It almost seems as if the end of a drought is met with a sigh of relief from Sacramento and a spout of wishful thinking that it will never happen again! However, history has shown that droughts are a part of life in California and the economy requires more preparation, particularly as California agriculture has shifted from traditional crops to fruits and nuts which cannot sustain a lack of water for even a short period of time.
Of particular concern is groundwater, which serves as about one-third of California’s water source, but can rise to as much as 60 percent during droughts. Currently, groundwater usage is not significantly governed by state regulations. This is particularly worrying because failure to address this will lead to depletion of aquifers and the collapse of land above them. With the 2009 water bond being rewritten, there’s potential to include ground water legislation in the effort. That would be a critical step to protecting one of California’s most important resources.
Sure could have used those privately funded desalination plants the government has been blocking for years and years.
Water is controlled by the government, so a water shortage is a function of the government. Great job they should give themselves another raise an increased benefits.
“Privately funded desalination plants?”
Oh, good. I’m glad that you’ve finally stopped cheerleading for that corporate-welfare scam known as Poseidon.
A water shortage is a function of the government? Just when I think I heard it all…Cook speaks. There is only so much water to go around. It’s not like more can be produced no matter who is in charge of it.
“There is only so much water to go around. It’s not like more can be produced” Yes you are correct, and 3/4 of the earth is covered in water.
The government is holding up the (private) plants to supply more fresh water.
Did you know that the government has spent of hundreds of millions of our tax dollars on reclaiming waste water, they take that fresh clear water and dump it on the ground in Anaheim?
That “dumping” of clean water goes back into the SA River aquifer that many cities down the line pump back up to our taps. Cities like Santa Ana and Fountain Valley get most of their water from this source.
Perhaps more importantly that reclaimed water helps to keep the flow of fresh water headed in the right direction. One of the problems that’s been found is that pumping out the Santa Ana River basin had allowed salt water to seep into the fresh water aquifer. If that happens the wells in HB, FV and SA would be useless. Reclaiming waste water seems to be helping with that problem as well as adding additional fresh water to the system for use in our homes.
I support desalinization projects that make sense. I think there should be dual use of power plants and the thermal energy that is now wasted to help in the desalinization process. It’s one of the things I wish Bechtal had worked into the SONGS design in the beginning, I think it would have been a good fit.
Huntington Beach lost a newer well due saltwater intrusion, poof, $1.5 million gone. When we do get heavy rains Army Corp of Engineers has to release water to the ocean to mitigate flood concerns. additional storage is an answer to that but a lot of the same folks who oppose desal will oppose dams or storage on land that floods habitat of a gnatcatcher. The Delta is a mess, less water will be coming from there as we do have t protect that estuary. We have done well with water use efficiency with a greater population of people actually using less total water than decades ago. But we are reaching limits on efficiency, lawn removal is about the largest thing remaining out there locally to reduce demand through efficiency. Desal definitely has a place at the table even at twice the cost of imported water and is an important reliability factor in times of drought. Desal, efficiency, recycling/reclaiming, brackish water cleanup should all be in our portfolio. Ag uses the most H2O but food is pretty important plus the water they use is in a cloud ten days later and returns to us as rain. Either stop growth of business and population or start desal, that is the option.
Check this out. I kid you not this footage of super-cell action from WY is great! No matter where you go you’re going to get dramatic weather of one type or another.
Music for is pretty good too. Enjoy!
Guess that didn’t work right!! Try this…
http://www.iflscience.com/environment/time-lapse-footage-supercell-thunderstorm
*Brackish……brackish……..my as well reverse osomosis the entire project and transfer
one on those desal plants in Dubai …..right here to our town. Yep, and we might even get a Tiger Woods Golf Course in the deal too! As long as the Government pays for it…ya see!
*Fiorgot to mention, special thanks to the three arsonists who set all those recent fires in SD county. Perhaps, they can spend the next 20 summers…..on the fire lines fighting county fires……between prison assignments.