(With expanded coverage of all the Western States)
by Patrick Ruckert
www.californiadroughtupdate.org/20221201-California-Water-and-Infrastructure-Report.pdf
Attention! The Western States Drought and Water Crisis Is a National Emergency
With some rain and snow now bringing some much needed relief to California this week, it is important to remember that one year ago record October and late December storms brought the promise of a “drought-busting” winter. But, then, for the first time since records have been kept in the late 19th century, the three months of winter saw virtually no rain and snow, and the third year of California’s drought was locked in.
The forecast for the winter ahead is not promising. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecast states that the winter in California will be dry. The forecast by both NOAA and the state of California is a fourth year of the present drought is most likely.
The following is a summary of the drought, the consequences and affects, and the actions of the federal and state governments in response to the drought and increasingly disastrous water crisis throughout the southwestern region of the country. The final sections will discuss solutions and related areas.
But, it is critical that it be understood that this crisis is a national emergency. It is one element of the breakdown of the real physical economy of the nation. While the news focuses on the latest financial scandal, it blissfully and deliberately ignores the water and electricity production disaster that is part of the decades of deindustrialization that gives us shortages and supply chain breakdowns.
