(With expanded coverage of all the Western States)
by Patrick Ruckert
www.californiadroughtupdate.org/20221229-California-Water-and-Infrastructure-Report 2.pdf
A Note to Readers
With Christmas and the New Year period being a downtime for many, reportage on the drought, water crisis, negotiations on the Colorado River required reductions of withdraws, and other related areas, has been sparse.
Only the present series of atmospheric rivers now impacting the entire west coast has been making the headlines.
Thus, the report this week will be brief.
As usual, when it rains in California, the question, “will this end the drought?” has been raised once again. The short answer is, unlikely, as the forecasts for the winter continue to be that the fourth year of this drought is a near certainty. The map above from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts dryness and drought at least through the winter months.
Ironically, while the at times intense precipitation is threatening flooding in parts of the state, little of this mana from heaven will be captured for storage, and instead will just flow to the ocean and San Francisco Bay. For now, new storage, like the slowly moving project, Sites Reservoir, would save about two million acre feet of that water, but completion is ten years down the road.
The U.S. Drought Monitor this week shows no change from the previous week, and little change from that of months ago. We will probably see more incremental decrease in drought intensity over the next few weeks as the impact of the present gift of rain and snow will be made clear.
But all of that is “on the surface,” so to speak. Following the above is this article, which foresees a serious groundwater crisis emerging throughout the Central Valley. The article, “Central Valley’s Aquifer Faces ‘Full-on Crisis’ Due to Pumping, Drought,” features one of the most competent scientists I have followed for the last several years— Jay Famiglietti.
The Feature this week is an article by my associate Mike Carr, and is a great way to welcome the New Year: “2023, The Year To Slay Fake Bots and Similar Evil Illusions.”
