 | | Boat docks sitting dry at Folsom Lake in El Dorado Hills on May 10.Justin Sullivan/Getty Images |
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Even as California moves toward a full reopening from pandemic restrictions next month, many counties are still in danger. |
Earlier this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom extended emergency drought orders to 41 counties across the state. According to the United States Drought Monitor, 84 percent of the West is now in drought conditions, with 47 percent rated as "severe" or "extreme." In California, 73 percent of the state falls into those categories. And if the recent Palisades fire in western Los Angeles is any indication, an active wildfire season could already be here. |
All eyes are on the critical resource that can help fight the effects of another dry summer: water. |
California relies on wet years to replenish its water supply during dry years. And while 2019 was a flood year, it has been dry since. |
The state's drought from 2012 to 2016 set a new benchmark, Jeffrey Mount, a senior fellow with the Public Policy Institute of California's Water Policy Center, told me this week. "That drought was significant because it was not only dry, with very limited snowpack, but it was the warmest in recorded history. The current drought — now two years old — is shaping up in the same way." |
On April 1, the date when the snow is normally deepest, statewide snowpack was just 59 percent of the historical average. And reservoir and groundwater levels this year are significantly below average, the state Water Resources Control Board said in March. |
In terms of water, "conditions are particularly dire north of Sacramento to the Oregon border, which is driving the crisis on the Klamath River," Mount said. On the other hand, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and other major cities are in pretty good shape, he added. |
When the state's water reservoirs are drawn down, farmers are forced to turn to groundwater, Mount told my colleague Jill Cowan last month. Until recently, though, the state's groundwater supplies were not regulated, so they have not had a chance to recharge. The use of groundwater is also unsustainable, bringing with it a cascade of unintended consequences, such as wells drying up. |
Beyond that, the environment will suffer as well. "Fish populations never recovered from the last drought, and extinctions are highly likely," Mount said. While species like the Delta smelt are already functionally extinct, it is likely that those that rely on cold water to survive, like salmon and steelhead trout, will be hit hard this year. |
"I see very tough times ahead for managing freshwater ecosystems," Mount said. |
The same can be said of forests, with heat and dryness making vegetation more likely to ignite. But how much residents feel the impact of drought in terms of water supply will really depend on where they live. |
"Very large systems like those in Southern California and the Bay Area will see modest effects," he said. "This includes increasing demand for reductions in water use through conservation and increasing prices of water to make up for less water use." Small, rural systems will see big cutbacks and disruptions in supply, Mount added, along with increasing costs. |
The water resources control board advised agricultural water users to take steps to conserve water, including reducing irrigated acreage, managing herd size, using innovative irrigation and diversifying water supply portfolios. The agency also recommended that residents conserve water by putting in drought-resistant landscape, reducing outdoor irrigation and replacing older house fixtures and appliances with more efficient ones. |
In the end, Mount said he was optimistic — conservation has become a way of life in the state. |
"Residents of California use about as much water as they did in 1990, which means we added almost 15 million people since then and used no more water," Mount said. "This is because we have baked it into our lives, contrary to popular belief." |
Here's what else to know today |
 | | The Palisades fire has scorched more than 1,100 acres.Christian Monterrosa/EPA, via Shutterstock |
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Compiled by Manny Fernandez |
- The authorities said the 48-year-old man who was arrested and accused of igniting the Palisades fire in western Los Angeles was homeless, and had been seen sparking small fires that eventually grew into a larger one that has scorched more than 1,100 acres, The Long Beach Press-Telegram reports.
- Silicon Valley companies — including Apple, Google and eBay — can bring employees back to the office as Santa Clara County moved into the least restrictive stage of California's color-coded pandemic reopening plan, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
- The sheriff of Los Angeles County said the names of deputies who shoot civilians will be released 30 days after each shooting, reversing a longtime practice that was the source of criticism, The Los Angeles Times reports.
- The Broad Museum in Los Angeles had planned to celebrate its fifth anniversary in 2020 showcasing the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat. But the pandemic forced it to close before the show even opened. Now the Broad is preparing to reopen next Wednesday, and will feature that Basquiat show, along with installations of Roy Lichtenstein, Kara Walker and Andy Warhol.
- The state is spending $10 million to find unvaccinated Californians and ask them to get vaccinated. In more than a dozen counties, including Los Angeles, Alameda, Sacramento and Fresno, hundreds of canvassers are knocking on doors to help people sign up for Covid-19 vaccines, The Sacramento Bee reports.
- Members of a pro-Palestinian caravan yelled anti-Semitic remarks and attacked diners outside a sushi restaurant in the Beverly Grove district of Los Angeles on Tuesday night. ABC 7 reports that the Los Angeles Police Department has begun a hate-crime investigation into the incident.
- Someone keeps shooting at vehicle windows with a BB or pellet gun on Southern California freeways. The Riverside Press-Enterprise reports that the California Highway Patrol is investigating more than 50 reports of shootings that damaged vehicle windows in the past three weeks, mostly on the 91 Freeway.
- The venerable theater in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood that was home to the long-running musical revue "Beach Blanket Babylon" will get a new show in the fall by the 7 Fingers, a Montreal circus collective.
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Priya Arora was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, and graduated from U.C. Irvine. They are currently a social media editor on the Audience team, and also write about South Asian pop culture for The Times. |
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