(With expanded coverage of all the Western States)
by Patrick Ruckert
www.californiadroughtupdate.org/California- Water-and-Infrastructure-Report-June%2C-13-2024.pdf
A Note to Readers
Following a three-week break, we return to our weekly schedule.
Since we are now in the midst of a national election campaign that will determine the future of the nation, and civilization itself, and at least one presidential candidate has weighed in on the issue of California’s never-ending battle on what water policy for the state requires (that candidate is Donald Trump), we shall begin this report with the attempt by President Biden and Governor Newsom to put in place policies that will not allow Trump to ensure more water for California farmers.
The Feature this week is from Promethean Action (formerly named LaRouche PAC), and is a feature from that organization which will be a regular feature in these reports. This week’s contribution is: Physical Economy and Technology Report. That is the last item in this week’s report.
Summer is just one week away, and two areas of interest are the condition of the snowpack and the opening of wildfire season. As for the snowpack, California is in good shape, but the rest of the west is not so good.
Ten days ago the biggest fire so far this year in the state burned 14,000 acres, but since the wet winter has reduced the danger of fires– at least for now– this summer is not expected to be a big fire year.
The Sites Reservoir project continues to move forward, with “several exciting developments in recent weeks.”
The Delta Tunnel project, now officially pegged at $20 billion and a construction time unknown, but at least to last 15-20 years (if it is built at all), is increasingly not only a waste, but will be a financial loser for California farmers. Of course, Governor Newsom and the state Department of Water Resources continue to be “all in.”
California’s huge budget deficit of over $25 billion and rising, has put essential projects and programs on the chopping block. Among those being cut is the funding for hundreds of dams that not only need repairs, but if repaired would expand water storage in the state by hundreds of thousands of acre feet.
On the Colorado River, both Lake Powell and Lake Mead have refilled significantly due to the wet and snowy winter. Significant should not be understood as anything that takes the river out of the danger area in terms of providing water to 40 million people. But, Lake Powell, for example, has risen from less than 30 percent full to 37percent of capacity.
I include an article in this section that reports on a presentation by the Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Touton outlining the Biden administration efforts to ensure that the Colorado River basin will not fail.
Fire Season has begun, but a second wet winter lowers the risk of another catastrophic fire year. So far this year 34,394 acres have burned statewide, compared to the five-year average of 8,453 acres for this time of year.
This week’s Feature concludes the report.
