(With expanded coverage of all the Western States)
by Patrick Ruckert
www.californiadroughtupdate.org/California- Water-and-Infrastructure-Report-April-25%2C-2024.pdf
A Note to Readers
It has been a very quiet week for news relevant to these reports. In fact, I have just two items for this report.
The first is the announcement by the California Department of Water Resources of an increase to 40%, the amount of water to be released to water agencies. That is 40% of what those agencies have requested.
Even with two winters of abundant snow and rain, and with full reservoirs, the water management system of the state is so broken that rationing has become a way of life for cities and farms.
That is not surprising, as for the past 50 years, since the completion of the California State Water Project, virtually no water infrastructure has been build by either the state or the federal governments.
The second item is a similar report from the Bureau of Reclamation that their allocation to water agencies will also be limited to 40% of the amount those agencies requested.
As this week’s report is very brief, I have added a more substantial item here in the Feature. It is a report that I wrote in 2013. Basically, it is the history of the California Water Management System.
I include the following of the report: The introductory paragraphs of the report, which includes a link to the full report itself.
For those who wish to know more background of what drove the building of the largest and most complex water management system in the world, this report is a good place to begin.
