The driest start to the calendar year in recorded history is
taking a toll on water resources during California’s third
year of drought. Find resources to stay up-to-date with the
latest on drought.
Some people in California and across the West struggle to access
safe, reliable and affordable water to meet their everyday needs
for drinking, cooking and sanitation.
Join the Water Education Foundation, an impartial
nonprofit, in its mission to create a better understanding
of water issues and help resolve water problems through
educational programs.
California’s vast network of surface
water reservoirs is designed to hold carryover storage from year
to year to ensure water is available for urban, agricultural and
environmental purposes during dry months and years.
But climate change has begun to affect our reliance on historical
weather patterns to predict California’s water supply, making it
even more difficult for water managers to manage drought
conditions and placing a greater emphasis on better precipitation
forecasting at longer lead times.
Learn about efforts being made to ‘get ahead of the storms’
through new science, models and technology at our special one-day
workshop June 9 in Irvine, Making Progress on Drought Management: Improvements in
Seasonal Precipitation Forecasting. The event is
sponsored by the California Department of Water Resources in
partnership with the Water Education Foundation.
How can California water managers
get ahead of the storms to improve drought management? A special
one-day workshop June 9 in Irvine will highlight some of the
latest research on seasonal precipitation forecasting that could
help water managers across the state plan better for what winter
might bring.
Californians can expect to see more yellow grass around
hospitals, hotels, office parks and industrial centers after
water regulators voted Tuesday to ban watering of
“nonfunctional” turf in commercial areas. The State Water
Resources Control Board also moved to order all the state’s
major urban water providers to step up their conservation
efforts. The moves are the strongest regulatory actions state
officials have taken in the third year of the latest drought.
Residents in Santa Clara County could face fines of up to $500
— and in extreme cases, $10,000 — for wasting water, under new
drought rules approved Tuesday afternoon that are among the
toughest of any urban area in California. … The new
rules take effect June 1, but depend largely on citizen
complaints and very few “water cops” to investigate
them. Under the rules, residents who see water being
wasted can notify the district of the address and date of
incident by calling 408-630-2000, or emailing
WaterWise@valleywater.org, or reporting online….
For two winters in a row, La Niña has steered desperately
needed rain and snow storms away from the U.S. Southwest,
exacerbating a decades-long drought that has shriveled
reservoirs and spurred horrific wildfires. Now, hopes that the
climate pattern would relent and allow moisture to rebound next
winter have suffered a serious blow. La Niña — Spanish for “the
girl” — persisted through April, and there’s a 61 percent
chance she’ll stick around for a third winter, according to the
latest monthly update from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
As drought conditions continue, people who rely on the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are demanding California make sure
their communities are protected. Early Tuesday, a group
gathered in front of the California State Water Resources
Control Board building to demand the state enforce the
Bay-Delta plan. It’s been a long fight and the group said
enough is enough. For many of the tribes, the Delta is an
important lifeline.
As part of the historic Colorado River Delta, the Salton Sea
regularly filled and dried for thousands of years due to its
elevation of 237 feet below sea level.
The most recent version of the Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when
the Colorado River broke
through a series of dikes and flooded the seabed for two years,
creating California’s largest inland body of water. The
Salton Sea, which is saltier than the Pacific Ocean, includes 130
miles of shoreline and is larger than Lake Tahoe.
Drought—an extended period of
limited or no precipitation—is a fact of life in California and
the West, with water resources following boom-and-bust patterns.
During California’s 2012–2016 drought, much of the state
experienced severe drought conditions: significantly less
precipitation and snowpack, reduced streamflow and higher
temperatures. Those same conditions reappeared early in 2021
prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom in May to declare drought emergencies
in watersheds across 41 counties in California.
