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Tag: California Drought

  • California Farmers Fear A 21st Century Dust Bowl

    Back in the 1930s, a major drought hit the United States, causing farmland to dry up to the point where there was only dirt in the place of once healthy crops.

    The loose soil contributed to terrible dust storms, which helped give a name to the devastation.

    The “Dust Bowl” has since become synonymous with the Great Depression and a time in human history when farmers and their families were forced to flee their homes in search of a better life.

    The poverty and suffering that followed seems an entirely foreign concept in the 21st century, even after a terrible recession.

    However, as a one of the worst droughts in California’s modern history grips the state, some fear that it could be a terrifying deja vu scenario.

    In the 1930s, there was no help for farmers, no choice but to move on. Today, many California farmers feel that same sense of hopelessness and abandonment. It’s as if no one cares about the consequences of the wasting away of billions of dollars worth of crops.

    Farmer Shawn Stevenson even went so far as to make his point known via a plastic banner hung atop a water tower:

    “NO WATER. NO TREES. NO JOBS. NO FOOD.”

    It’s unfortunately a point that Americans in the West and beyond may not get until it is far too late.

    California’s Central Valley is said to provide food for half the country. The depleting Colorado River is also used to provide drinking water to millions of Americans.

    It seems that not enough people are connecting the dots: California and surrounding states are inching closer and closer towards disaster.

    Only this catastrophe could be worse than the infamous Dust Bowl.

    As farmers scramble to use whatever methods are available to save as many crops as possible, others are left to wonder what can be done to prevent this seemingly inevitable chain of events.

    Image via YouTube

  • San Andreas Fault: Could Drought Make It Worse?

    The drought in California is causing a lot of problems for residents, most of these problems are obvious, but one is harder to see. The drought has caused Californians to take water from underneath the Central Valley. This has caused the area to rise up at least six inches since it was first pumped for water in 1860.

    The rising land and depleted water is also causing some not so pleasant effects. More and more earthquakes have been occurring in California and a recent study shows that the pumping could be causing more stress on the San Andreas Fault and lead to more earthquakes in the future.

    “The magnitude of these stress changes is exceedingly small compared to the stresses relieved during a large earthquake,” lead researcher Colin Amos, a geologist at Western Washington University, said.

    Most Californians are used to dealing with small earthquakes, but scientists have warned for years that a giant earthquake capable of killing 1,800 people and causing $200 billion in damage could also occur along the fault line sometime in the near future.

    This has caused many people to wonder what they can do to prevent such quakes from occurring and further stressing the fault. According to Amos, the damage is already done and cannot be reversed.

    “These earthquakes are likely to occur no matter what humans do,” Amos said.

    The study has also offered a unique view into earthquake hazard causes.

    “This study shows that human-induced changes are significant and must be considered in earthquake hazard analyses,” said Paul Lundgren, a geophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

    “The key aspect to keep in mind is that while they can estimate that the unclamping of the San Andreas Fault will promote future seismicity there, they do not know what is the current absolute state of stress on the fault nor how much additional stress accumulation is required to generate the next large earthquake,” Lundgren said.

    Do you think the pumping will lead to more or bigger earthquakes and what else can be done about the California drought?

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Lake Mead Drying Up, Las Vegas Could Be At Risk

    If you were to take a boat and start floating across Lake Mead, you might notice that some parts of the surrounding rocks were considerably whiter than others. The horizontal ivory colored rock face might even seem pretty until you realize what they represent—Water that isn’t there anymore.

    Lake Mead is shrinking. This isn’t just any lake that’s getting smaller: This specific lake was created by the Hoover Dam in 1935. It provides water to millions of people across the states of Nevada, Arizona and California.

    Satellite photos show that the Colorado River, which feeds Lake Mead is drying up. It strongly suggests that if the pattern of weather continues and the river is not replenished, Lake Mead could possibly go bone dry in the future.

    Such a reality could have major consequences on the populations that rely on Lake Mead for water. Especially the city of Las Vegas, Nevada. A whopping ninety percent of the city’s water supply comes from the lake. Losing that much water due to the loss of Lake Mead would be disastrous.

    The city is taking action in order to try and avoid any major consequences. Las Vegas officials approved a new intake pipe which will be complete in 2015 and cost $817 million.

    J.C. Davis, the project’s spokesperson says of the major undertaking, “We’re really scrambling to make sure that this intake is done in time.”

    There’s no telling what measures other populations will be forced to take as the lake continues to shrink. Lake Mead’s water levels are expected to drop another twenty feet this year. The lake already lost 4 trillion gallons of water over the past fourteen years and the situation is critical.

    Davis notes that, “without Lake Mead, there would be no Las Vegas.” Without a major water supply or an end to the drought, there may not be a lot of things if a viable solution isn’t found.

    California is dealing with a major drought situation and it has been suggested that the region may be experiencing a megadrought.

    It’s hoped that some relief may be coming to the region soon in the form of rain. Whether or not it will be enough remains to be seen.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • California Drought: Communities Nearly Out Of Water

    With the unrelenting drought that has plagued California, officials claim it is one of the worst droughts in history, and many communities as well as water districts could run dry within 100 days.

    The threatened towns and districts are mostly small and in rural areas. Their water comes from reservoirs, wells and rivers, but in all of these cases, an extremely dry winter has left water supplies nearly depleted.

    The communities that are feeling the worst of the drought are located in the greater bay area. Towns such as Cloverdale and Hearldsburg that are located in Sonoma County are among them. The Lompico Water District is also on the list, in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

    “These systems all are experiencing challenges meeting customer need, and those challenges are exacerbated by drought conditions,” Matt Conens, spokesman for the California Department of Public Health, said in an e-mail to The Chronicle.

    The health department is seeking to help the communities in several ways, Conens said. In some areas, new wells will be dug. In others, water may be hauled in. In some cases, smaller water systems will be connected with larger ones.

    Since Gov. Jerry Brown’s declaration of a drought emergency earlier this month, it gave state agencies expanded powers and flexibility to intervene, so the state is poised to do what it can to ensure these communities receive water before they completely dry up.

    Most of California has seen little or no rainfall this month, normally one of its rainy months, and a dry 2013 that set a calendar-year record for low rainfall in many areas.

    Although the weather forecasts rain on Wed and Thurs this week, the rainfall is predicted to be minimal.

    In addition to the list of districts and communities in danger of running dry includes the city of Willits, the Redwood Valley Community Water District and the Brooktrail Township Community Services District, all in Mendocino County.

    The Sierra foothills are included as well, with Washington Ridge Conservation Camp in Nevada County, Ophir Gardens in Placer County, the Jackson Valley Irrigation District in Amador County and the Whispering Pines Apartments in Mariposa County are in danger of running out of water.

    Other more southerly areas include the Bass Lake Water Company in Madera County and the Shaver Lake Heights Mutual Water Company and Sierra Cedars Community Services District, both in Fresno County.

    Kern County is also on the list that include the Boulder Canyon Water Association, Cypress Canyon Water System, Lake of the Woods Mutual Water Company and Camp Condor.

    Californians are more than likely doing rain dances about now.

    Image via YouTube

  • California Emergency: Fires And Drought

    California Emergency: Fires And Drought

    With the drought getting worse, California has some serious water problems, but add fires and it can be considered a state of emergency.

    California’s Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency in California on Friday. Rivers, reservoirs and lakes are the driest on record in years, and he’s asked the residents to cut water usage by 20 percent. Mandatory conservation measures are not ruled out for the future if things do not get better.

    “This takes a coming together of all the people of California to deal with this serious and prolonged event of nature,” the governor told reporters in San Francisco. “Hopefully it’ll rain eventually. But in the meantime, we have to do our part.”

    This emergency call for help is a way for the state to gain help from the federal government, giving the state more flexibility to manage the flow of water from one place to the next. The Gov. included state agencies in that water usage cut as well.

    The governor called it “perhaps the worst drought California has ever seen since records began being kept about 100 years ago.”

    January and February are typically the wettest months of the year for parts of California, but this January has been mostly dry.

    These dry conditions and lack of precipitation is sparking wildfires due to the tinderbox condition of the brush and trees. Just outside of Los Angeles is a wildfire that began its wrath on Thursday, destroying five homes and is raging in the Angeles National Forest.

    It isn’t just California that is dealing with this major lack of water, also on the dreaded drought list are 11 other states considered disaster areas, due in part to the economic strain that the lack of rain is putting on farmers. Those states are Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • California In A Drought – Who Knew?

    California In A Drought – Who Knew?

    According to records maintained by the Enterprise-Record, California is in the middle of a drought. Few people are aware of how bad the drought really is and officials say that the real threat could be in the near future. Nine of California’s 12 major reservoirs are below 50 percent capacity and in some areas like Chico, as little as 3.45 inches of rain has fallen since July 1st, 2012.

    The California State Board of Food and Agriculture and representatives from the California Department of Water Resources and State Water Resources Control Board will be meeting next week to discuss just how bad the drought is currently and could become during the warmer months of the year. They will also be working on plans to deal with the drought not only now, but if and when it becomes more severe.

    “We are sounding the alarm on behalf of the agricultural industry,” said Craig McNamara, president of the state’s food and agriculture board. “With the strong potential that California is entering its third dry year, we need to start planning now to minimize long-term impacts.”

    Experts say that the drought could mean severe problems for many people in California, especially farmers. A severe drought could lead to land fallowing and unsustainable groundwater overdraft that could prevent crops from growing properly or at all. Livestock farmers who raise their livestock on natural pastures are already having to pump ground water into water troughs for their animals in some dryer areas of the state.

    In other areas, the effects of the drought are not severe and in some ways, beneficial. Less rain means less tree disease in Butte County’s orchards and better conditions for workers to maintain the trees and fruits.

    After Tuesday’s meeting, more farmers will be made aware of the drought and be able to develop plans to protect their farm and livelihood.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons.

  • California Drought: The Driest in Over 130 Years

    Though it hasn’t officially been declared, parts of California are in a drought.

    According to Yahoo News, downtown Los Angeles only received 3.60 inches of rain since January 1, 2013. A normal year would bring 15 inches. This makes 2013 the driest calendar year since 1877.

    San Francisco was also parched in 2013 with only 5.59 inches of rain, as well as Sacramento with 6.13 inches. Both cities were 14 to 18 inches below normal precipitation.

    “It’s about the worst I’ve ever seen,” said rancher Jim Warren of Gilroy in Santa Clara County. “But you can’t starve a cow into profit.”

    Warren has had to pay $6,000 for imported alfalfa hay to feed his cattle since the water shortage has dried up his fresh green winter pastures.

    The dry spell is not only impacting ranchers, but those who depend on getting their water through springs and wells.

    Much of the west coast state’s reservoirs are below average, making some communities to issue water conservation orders.

    “It’s been pitiful,” said Bob Benjamin, a National Weather Service forecaster in Monterey. “It’s a concern, but we do have several months to catch up.”

    However, amidst the concerns, some are actually benefiting from the lack of precipitation. Less rain means less tree disease for orchards. California orchard crops include foods such as almonds, walnuts, olives, and prunes.

    But, dry land farmers – those who have wheat or barley in the ground – are still waiting for the rain. They know that there is a possibility of drought each year.

    “It is like going to Reno,” said Richard Price, Butte County’s agricultural commissioner. “You put your money down and see what happens.”

    Forecasters in the area are still hopeful and point out that often, in the past, dry Decembers have led to storms at the first of the year.

    State climatologist Michael Anderson said, “Or we can get a miracle March that bails us out a little bit.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons