(With expanded coverage of all the Western States)
by Patrick Ruckert
www.californiadroughtupdate.org/20230316-California-Water-and-Infrastructure-Report.pdf
A Note to Readers
Over more than 10 weeks, California has had 11 atmospheric river storms, dumping record amounts of rain and snow on the state. The drought, one would think, must have been obliterated.
Not quite. As the U.S. Drought Monitor below shows, 36% of the state remains in Moderate Drought and 8% in Severe Drought.
In addition, of course, ground water levels will take years to recover, if there are at least several years of above average precipitation.
The three year drought was the driest three-year period in California history. Over the past 23 years, the state has about 15 years of drought. The wet winters of 2017 and 2018 also saw well above average precipitation.
Now with not only a megadrought, punctuated by brief interruptions of drenching winters, the hypothesis put forward in 2013 by the authors of the book, “The West Without Water: What Past Floods, Droughts, and Other Climatic Clues Tell Us About Tomorrow,” appears to be even more valid today. They state that now, perhaps, the region is returning to the more characteristic climate that has dominated for the past two thousand years– that is alternating megadroughts and megafloods.
My review of the book is here: https://larouchepub.com/eiw/public/2014/eirv41n19-20140509/48-52_4119.pdf
In the recent storms, hundreds of thousands have been without power for at least a short period of time. Tens of thousands have been evacuated due to flooding. And a major levee was breached inundating an entire town. The damage is in the tens of billions and will take years to repair.
Once again it is important to say that droughts and extreme storms are acts of nature. Water shortages and floods are the lack of foresight, planning and building by mankind.
Below you will find coverage of the reservoir levels, weather forecasts, and the impact of the storms on agriculture.
With little or no news this past week in regard to the Colorado River, I will just state a general summary: The Colorado River The Bureau of Reclamation is now scheduled to announce on April 1 what the policy for the river will be going forward. Whether it accepts the plans of California or that of the other six states remains unknown. Whatever it is, the conflict will continue. Regardless, this year and going forward, withdraws from the river must be reduced by two to four million acre feet.
Thus far this winter the snowpack for the Upper Colorado River Basin, including the Rocky Mountains, is good, which means potentially a good flow of water this Spring and Summer into Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Though, as forecast, with drought dried out soil, the amount of water from the snowpack will be less than in the past.
But, one single good snow melt year will not do much to refill the reservoirs. The two reservoirs hold about 50 million acre feet of water, but the reservoirs are now less than 30% of capacity.
But, one single good snow melt year will not do much to refill the reservoirs. The two reservoirs hold about 50 million acre feet of water, but the reservoirs are now less than 30% of capacity.
The Feature this week focuses on the ongoing banking crisis that erupted last week with the bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank, and has now taken down a few more banks and spread internationally. The financial system that has for decades been little more than a gambling casino, may be heading for a crisis worse than that of 2008. The article I include is from LaRouche PAC, “The Principles We Must Use in the Banking Crisis—Starting with “People First!”
