A project of the Water Education Foundation. Funded by
grants from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Mid-Pacific Region),
U.S. Geological Survey (California Water Science Center) and
California Department of Water Resources.
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Rock snot… Quagga… Rattlebox… They sound like ingredients for a witch’s cauldron that Shakespeare missed or the names in a collection of wildlings from north of the wall in‘Game of Thrones,’ but they are names of actual species wreaking havoc on ecological systems and watersheds California. Most do not have names that generate a sense of foreboding or disgust as these may and quite a few can appear as cute and innocuous as the trick or treaters knocking on doors later this season.
Water is flowing forth from the Sierra Nevada, as a record setting snowpack begins to melt into a record setting flow of liquid propelled downhill by gravity. The U.S. Geological Survey Water Watch map of California is loaded with stream gages reporting near-flood levels on many of the state’s rivers and hundreds of cubic feet per second of water flowing into the Central Valley, Nevada and the lakes and valleys of the Eastern Sierra.
It seems Mother Nature has a wicked sense of irony and a fondness for the old saying, ‘Be careful what you wish for.’ After five years of drought, the skies have opened up with a deluge of precipitation that for some it may be starting to seem like it’ll never end. Total precipitation was at 215% of average as of March 6th, with precipitation graphs for both the northern Sierra and
“The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides. The sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence. It is nothing but love and emotion; it is the Living Infinite.”
– Jules Verne, ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea’
“WHEREAS, the Sierra Nevada and Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta are inextricably linked and of significant value to all of Californians who rely on these two Regions for water supply and quality…”
– Excerpt, Sierra to Sea Resolution, Sierra Nevada & Delta Conservancies
“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity.”
Drought still stalks the California landscape, but enough water has fallen around the state for a ‘greening’ of what was pretty much a yellow-brown, desiccated landscape at this time last year. In my area of the state, this resurgence of life has brought a flourish of wildflowers, wild hares, quail and other organisms that have been scarcely seen – and grass two feet deep that I haven’t missed cutting as often – in the past couple of years.
“The intelligent American will one day point on the map to this remarkable district with the conscious pride that it has not its parallel on the face of the globe.” &
“By the law of nature these things are common to mankind – the air, running water, the sea, and consequently the shores of the sea.” — Justinian Code, 530 AD
I’m sure a few of you reading the title of this article and the current headlines related to California water will be wondering if my brain may be suffering from lack of water as much as the state. The few storms we have had since December will allow the California Department of Water Resources to send a little more water to most State Water Project customers than last year, but the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced a second year of a zero initial water allocation from the Central Valley Project for many agricultural users north and south of the Delta.
I can already sense the hackles rising with the tone of disgust escaping the lips of the most hardcore science advocates among us at the mere sight of the article title.
Earth Science Week occurs annually in the second week of October and is designed to promote awareness of the dynamic interactions between natural and human systems, while engaging students in exploring how this knowledge is applied in the geosciences.
Every one of the Project WET Facilitators I had the privilege of
working with in California are a unique and special caliber of
educator, volunteering their time and resources to provide some
of the most engaging, experiential and content –rich water
education professional development workshops and school education
programs on the planet – and I do mean this literally, as several
California Facilitators led Project WET trainings in a number of
other countries!
The world outside my home office window in the foothills of the
Sierra Nevada is a sea of green quilted with brilliant patches of
wildflowers like the shards of a shattered rainbow come to Earth
on this St. Patrick’s Day. It is hard to believe California
is in the grip of a withering drought once more, as the scent of
new mown grass heavy with dew fills the air. If one simply
turned off the news and laid their head in the grass, all would
seem right in the world – no drought, no more fire danger and no
need to heed warnings to conserve water. But it’ll take
more than wishful ignorance and a four-leaved shamrock to get us
through the upcoming summer. California remains in the grip
of drought,
and the recent rains did little more than change the landscape
from brown to green in much of the state. Our major
reservoirs remain well below historical average capacity for this
time of year at
40% to 50% of capacity, snowpack is at 28% of
normal and disturbing reports have been coming out regarding
groundwater levels throughout the Central Valley.
