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Jason Richards
While all eyes were focused on the historic low temperatures and huge snowfalls inthe eastern U.S. California's winter was equally devastating.
As spring has already come it has become clear that the paltry rain and snowfall have done almost nothing to alleviate epic drought conditions. January was the driest in California since record-keeping began in 1895. Groundwater and snowpack levels are at all-time lows.
Data from NASA satellites show that the total amount of water stored in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins - that is, all of the snow, river and reservoir water, water in soils and groundwater combined - was 34 million acre-feet below normal in 2014. That loss is nearly 1.5 times the capacity of Lake Mead, America's largest reservoir.
Statewide, we've been dropping more than 12 million acre-feet of total water yearly since 2011. Roughly two-thirds of these losses are attributable to groundwater pumping for agricultural irrigation in the Central Valley.
Farmers have little choice but to pump more groundwater during droughts, especially when their surface water allocations have been slashed 80% to 100%. But these pumping rates are excessive and unsustainable. Wells are running dry. In some areas of the Central Valley, the land is sinking by one foot or more per year.
If all this keeps up, California Has Only One Year Of Water Left
As difficult as it may be to face, the simple fact is that California is running out of water - and the problem started before our current drought. NASA data reveal that total water storage in California has been in steady decline since at least 2002, when satellite-based monitoring began, although groundwater depletion has been going on since the early 20th century.
Right now the state has only about one year of water supply left in its reservoirs, and our strategic backup supply, groundwater, is rapidly disappearing. California has no contingency plan for a persistent drought like this one (let alone a 20-plus-year mega-drought), except, apparently, staying in emergency mode and praying for rain.
This process works just fine when water is in abundance. In times of crisis, however, we must demand that planning for California's water security be an honest, transparent and forward-looking process. Most important, we must make sure that there is in fact a plan.
Before the drought, California used to produce a huge chunk of all vegetables and fruit grown in the US:
44% of asparagus;
20% of cabbage;
66% of carrots;
50% of peppers;
89% of cauliflower;
94% of broccoli;
95% of celery;
90% of the leaf lettuce along with and 83% of Romaine lettuce;
83% of fresh spinach;
33% of total fresh tomatoes consumed in the U.S. and 95% of ones destined for cans and other processing purpose;
86% of lemons and a 25% of oranges;
90% of avocados;
99% of the artichokes;
84% of peaches;
88% of fresh strawberries, and 97% of fresh plums.
If NASA's warning is correct, we are in for a lot of trouble.
While all eyes were focused on the historic low temperatures and huge snowfalls inthe eastern U.S. California's winter was equally devastating.
As spring has already come it has become clear that the paltry rain and snowfall have done almost nothing to alleviate epic drought conditions. January was the driest in California since record-keeping began in 1895. Groundwater and snowpack levels are at all-time lows.
Data from NASA satellites show that the total amount of water stored in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins - that is, all of the snow, river and reservoir water, water in soils and groundwater combined - was 34 million acre-feet below normal in 2014. That loss is nearly 1.5 times the capacity of Lake Mead, America's largest reservoir.
Statewide, we've been dropping more than 12 million acre-feet of total water yearly since 2011. Roughly two-thirds of these losses are attributable to groundwater pumping for agricultural irrigation in the Central Valley.
Farmers have little choice but to pump more groundwater during droughts, especially when their surface water allocations have been slashed 80% to 100%. But these pumping rates are excessive and unsustainable. Wells are running dry. In some areas of the Central Valley, the land is sinking by one foot or more per year.
If all this keeps up, California Has Only One Year Of Water Left
As difficult as it may be to face, the simple fact is that California is running out of water - and the problem started before our current drought. NASA data reveal that total water storage in California has been in steady decline since at least 2002, when satellite-based monitoring began, although groundwater depletion has been going on since the early 20th century.
Right now the state has only about one year of water supply left in its reservoirs, and our strategic backup supply, groundwater, is rapidly disappearing. California has no contingency plan for a persistent drought like this one (let alone a 20-plus-year mega-drought), except, apparently, staying in emergency mode and praying for rain.
This process works just fine when water is in abundance. In times of crisis, however, we must demand that planning for California's water security be an honest, transparent and forward-looking process. Most important, we must make sure that there is in fact a plan.
Before the drought, California used to produce a huge chunk of all vegetables and fruit grown in the US:
44% of asparagus;
20% of cabbage;
66% of carrots;
50% of peppers;
89% of cauliflower;
94% of broccoli;
95% of celery;
90% of the leaf lettuce along with and 83% of Romaine lettuce;
83% of fresh spinach;
33% of total fresh tomatoes consumed in the U.S. and 95% of ones destined for cans and other processing purpose;
86% of lemons and a 25% of oranges;
90% of avocados;
99% of the artichokes;
84% of peaches;
88% of fresh strawberries, and 97% of fresh plums.
If NASA's warning is correct, we are in for a lot of trouble.
