Posted on 04/09/2007 2:40:29 AM PDT by WayneLusvardi
Drought Hysteria from The Pasadena Stirred News
From Pasadena Star News Today:
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/opinions/ci_5623625
Excerpt: Southern California finds itself in the midst of a drought, one that extends to the east and west slopes of the Sierra and into the Colorado River basin. And whether the cause is global warming or cyclical weather patterns, it's time for action, not words.
Consider:
The water content in the Sierra snowpack is at its lowest level in two decades, meaning that water supplies to cities and farms could be affected if conditions persist.
The Colorado River system is in the midst of one of the worst droughts in centuries.
The Colorado River system is in the midst of one of the worst droughts in centuries.
As a result, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is pushing for a ballot measure in 2008 that would allocate $4.5 billion in bonds for new water storage in the state.
It has been the driest winter in the Los Angeles area since records began in 1877.
If that's not enough, JPL researchers have determined that temperatures in California are on the rise, much of that attributable to urban sprawl.
If these conditions continue for one or two more decades, the situation could become dire. While prolonged droughts haven't occurred in hundreds of years, there is no guarantee it won't happen again. Mother Nature is adept at throwing curve balls.
Pundit Comment:
Consider this:
Most Californians know that their water doesn't come from a faucet, but is collected, stored and distributed through a system of dams, reservoirs, canals and pipelines that capture water from the prior year for this years use. Apparently, this hasn't dawned on the people over at the Pasadena Star News who think that a dry current year in Southern California signals a drought caused by the urban heat island effect from "urban sprawl" occurring hundreds of miles away from the Sierra and Upper Colorado River Basin snowpacks.
Urban heat islands vary widely depending on micro-climate. Big cities have high urban heat island levels while the suburbs, where sprawl occurs, have the same heat island level as rural areas - see graphic profile below:
Source: U.S. EPA - http://www.eoearth.org/article/Heat_island
We don't need to worry as much about Los Angeles experiencing the driest year since 1877 as the Pasadena Star News asserts as we need to worry about the political and judicial sprawl in Sacramento that has blocked water deliveries to Southern California in the next sixty days over imaginary dead smelt fish in the Sacramento Delta (documented dead smelt count: zero). But the Pasadena Star News doesn't consider that a "crisis." See "Something Smelts About Water Shut Down" at the CalWaterWarRoom website here: http://www.CalWaterWarRoom.typepad.com/
Below is a quick snapshot of our water resources:
Northern California reservoirs exceeded historical average last year - see here: http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/current/STORAGEW
Lake Mead on the Colorado River is flirting with drought conditions but is not there yet. Lake Mead is nowhere near the Dust Bowl levels of 1935 as yet. See here: http://www.arachnoid.com/NaturalResources/
Lake Havasu is at historical levels. See here: http://www.arachnoid.com/NaturalResources/havasu.html
Lake Powell average daily water level is not near as bad this year as 2005 at this time of the year. See here: http://graphs.water-data.com/lakepowell/
Upper Colorado River snowpack is lowest since 2004. But Southern California shifted from getting two-thirds of its imported water from the Colorado River to now getting two-thirds of its water from Northern California beginnng about 2005. See Colorado River snowpack graph here: http://graphs.water-data.com/ucsnowpack/
The Sacramento River carries enough water to the sea in a week during winter to water all the urban vegetation in the State for a year. See Dan Walters, "What Water Crisis?" - here: http://www.capoliticalnews.com/discuss.php?id=590
Rural, not sprawled urban, areas are most affected by current drought. Read below:
Excerpt from California Dept. of Water Resources: http://watersupplyconditions.water.ca.gov/
Water year 2007 is a dry year, especially in Central and Southern California. Precipitation to date in parts of Southern California has been less than 20 percent of average. Precipitation in February, the wettest month of this water year, was insufficient to make up for an unusually dry January statewide. Most of the wet season is now behind us, and warming temperatures are setting the stage for early snowmelt. Forecasts of unimpaired runoff from Sierra watersheds are well below average, especially from the Feather River Basin southward.
One dry year, however, does not constitute a drought. 2006 was a wet year - the fifth wettest on record for Northern California - and has left a legacy of above-average storage conditions in most major reservoirs and groundwater basins. Past experience with California droughts tells us that impacts of a single dry year are felt primarily by those most dependent on/affected by annual rainfall - agencies fighting wildfires, ranchers engaged in dryland grazing, rural residents relying on wells in low-yield rock formations, or small water systems lacking a reliable water source.
California's last major statewide drought was 1987-92. At a regional level, parts of Southern California experienced a series of consecutive dry years in the late 1990s/early 2000s, with water year 2002 setting records for single driest precipitation year in cities such as Los Angeles and San Diego. The Colorado River Basin, an important source of water supply for Southern California experienced five consecutive years of drought in water years 2000-2004 (not 2005 & 2006).
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