(With expanded coverage of all the Western States)
by Patrick Ruckert
www.californiadroughtupdate.org/20230302-California-Water-and-Infrastructure-Report.pdf
A Note to Readers
Two weeks of storms in California has completely changed the drought situation. With a near record snowpack reservoirs filling up, this has meant that there will be increased allocations to water districts this year. The caveat is often repeated that one good winter does not end the drought.
This week’s U.S. Drought Monitor, both the map and the discussion give a very good picture.
The focus this week shall be the breaking of the current drought. Articles on the snowpack and the reservoirs provide the bulk of the report. Of note is that Governor Newsom has declared 13 counties in a state of emergency due to the storms.
And, to give one highlight of the tremendous snowpack, this is from the Los Angeles Times today: “At Donner Pass, the U.C. Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab has recorded 141.9 inches in the past seven days and 531 inches, or a little more than 44 feet, so far this season. And while the recent snowfall has been significant, it pales in comparison to the station’s all-time snowiest season, 1951-52, during which it recorded more than 67 feet of snow, the lead scientist and manager Andrew Schwartz said.”
There is no word yet on what the Bureau of Reclamation is going to impose on the seven states of the Colorado Basin in order to reduce withdraws by two to four million acre feet beginning this year, but there is some better news from the Rocky Mountains. An excellent snowpack has developed there. While welcome news, it will make no difference in the crisis, but will probably slow down the declining reservoirs of Lake Mead and Lake Powell.
Lake Powell has fallen once again to the lowest level since the dam was first filled.
I have renamed the Feature section Physical Economy, in order to emphasize that without a re-industrialization of the country, not only is building the necessary infrastructure required tomorrow impossible, but we can never return to an economy in which one income will support an entire family.
There are two items in that section this week. Links are provided and you will find the items on pages 12-15.
First:
Office of the President of the United States:
STRATEGY FOR AMERICAN LEADERSHIP IN ADVANCED MANUFACTURING
A Report by the SUBCOMMITTEE ON ADVANCED MANUFACTURING COMMITTEE ON TECHNOLOGY of the NATIONAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL
October 2018
The second item is:“Fusion Energy Builds A Wondrous Future; Biden’s Utopians Would Obliterate It,” by my colleague Kesha Rogers.
