Watching California's Water
A dry December and early January have reminded many in the Golden State that periods of drought can return quickly. California enjoyed one of its wettest years on record last year, with rainfall and snowpack levels sufficient to ease the effects of the three previous years of drought by partially restoring water supplies and groundwater levels.
This winter though, the Northern Sierra Nevada experienced its third driest December, receiving only 14 percent snowfall it receives on an average year in the region and 19 percent statewide. Despite the extremely dry conditions, state reservoir levels remain at their normal year-to-date levels, due to remaining water from last year. It remains to be seen though, if the late winter can help the state recover from the early missed storms.
MORE INFORMATION ON THE 2011 WATER YEAR
Sierra SNOWPACK Survey
The first California Cooperative Snow Survey of 2012 was conducted on January 3. Due to a lack of early season precipitation, statewide snow totals in the Sierras were found to be at only 19 percent of the historical average to date.
MAJOR RESERVOIR LEVELS
Last year’s above average rainfall and snowpack have most of the state's reservoirs remaining near their historical average to date. Dept. of Water Resources - Current Reservoir Conditions
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
San Francisco Chronicle: Sierra Snow Survey Finds Hardly Any (Jan. 3, 2012)
Sacramento Bee: Tuesday's first snow survey comes amid very dry winter (Jan. 3, 2012)
Fresno Bee: Cutback in Delta Pumping Prompts Suit (June 10, 2011)
Fresno Bee Despite Large Snowpack, Little Danger of Floods (June 8, 2011)
GROUNDWATER BANKING
The excess water available during 2011 provided an incredible opportunity for recharging groundwater storage throughout the state. Kern County alone recharged over a half million acre-feet of water into its aquifers to help mitigate future droughts. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California was been able to replenish its reserves by storing 749,000 acre-feet of water in 2011, enough to supply almost 1.5 million households (6 million residents) for an entire year.
MORE INFORMATION: Delta Watch – Banking Water for the Future
Delta Outflows
A historically wet year in 2011 provided a plentiful water supply to farmers, consumers and the environment, but in a volatile climate such as California’s, a wet year cannot always be counted on. It is important to responsibly utilize, manage and store as much water as possible.
The combination of a lack of additional storage capacity in California and pumping restrictions designed to protect fish caused over 25.3 million acre/feet of water to flow out of the Delta, to the ocean between December 2010 and August 2011. That is four times the amount of water exported by all of the Delta's water users throughout an entire year.
In 2010, water pumping restrictions caused more than 1,043,004 acre-feet of water to flow out to the ocean because exports from the Delta have been curtailed to protect native fishes. This wasted precious resource would have provided enough water for over 347,000 acres of thirsty farm crops or meet the water supply needs of over 8,344,032 California residents for a year.