(With expanded coverage of all the Western States)
by Patrick Ruckert
www.californiadroughtupdate.org/California-Water-and-Infrastructure-Report-September-26%2C-2024.pdf
A Note to Readers
California is drying out, slowly, but markedly. While the U.S. Drought Monitor map for this week shows only11% of the state at some level of drought condition, and an expected La Nina winter may mean little precipitation during the winter to come.
A court ruling that found an environmental challenge to moving forward with the Sites Reservoir Project was thrown out this week, and the project takes another step forward. There is one more approval remaining and everyone is confident it will be quickly approved.
Even Governor Newsom, as he has done with keeping the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant running, and even repudiating his own Coastline Commission for disallowing the building of a major desalination plant, celebrated the Sites approval ruling.
As he said, “’We can’t waste any more time with frivolous lawsuits to hold up major infrastructure projects, especially building more water storage,’” he said. “The Sites Reservoir project will capture more rain and snow to supply millions of homes with clean drinking water.’”
Another court decision this week restored water rights to area farmers, with the court ruling that the California Department of Water Resources committed fraud in putting the district under sanctions.
Fire season continues, with September being the most dangerous in California due to seasonal winds that historically have driven large fires.
Finally, the Colorado River continues to be managed with the only idea that present planners can imagine: conservation. A much different breed of those of the past had vision and acted on creating new sources of water for vast areas of the Western States.
