Despite rains, snowpack reading in Calif. brings bad news

E&E News
By Anne Mulkern
April 2, 2014

Recent rains in California have failed to rescue the state from its sweeping drought.

A reading of the state's snowpack yesterday showed it was at 32 percent of average for this time of year. It was the final reading before the spring melt typically begins.

"We're already seeing farmland fallowed and cities scrambling for water supplies," said Mark Cowin, director of the state's Department of Water Resources (DWR). "We can hope that conditions improve, but time is running out, and conservation is the only tool we have against nature's whim."

Following what the state called a "bone dry December and January," there was optimism that February and March storms would increase the snowpack. But those storms failed to break the drought's three-year hold on the state, the state DWR said, adding that "reservoirs, rainfall totals and the snowpack remain critically low."

The rains instead may only have kept this year from breaking historic drought records, Corwin said. The snowpack reading, however, was at its lowest since 1988 and the fifth-lowest reading since snowpack record-keeping began in 1930, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Water supplies also are short. Shasta Lake, north of Redding, the largest reservoir for California's and the federal Central Valley Project (CVP), is at 48 percent of its 4.5-million-acre-foot capacity. Lake Oroville in Butte County is at 49 percent of its 3.5-million-acre-foot capacity. It's the main reservoir for the State Water Projects (SWP), which serve 26 million people and 750,000 acres of farmland for a major portion of their water.

Drought conditions are expected to persist in years ahead because of climate change, environmental advocates said. More snowfall is likely to come as rain.

A University of California, Los Angeles, study last year said that climate change will shrink snowfalls in Southern California mountains as much as 42 percent by midcentury. That will happen, it said, regardless of whether the world reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Hotter days of the future already are baked in. Without mitigation of warming, more than two-thirds of the snowpack will disappear between 2081 and 2100, the research said (ClimateWire, June 17).

Climate change also is contributing to the current drought, said Peter Gleick, president of the Oakland, Calif.-based Pacific Institute.

"Not only has precipitation been low, but we've experienced very higher temperatures in California in the last several years," Gleick said. There's been more evaporation from soils and reservoirs, he said. Sea-level rise is pushing more salt into the San Joaquin River Delta, which forces the state to push more water in order to meet environmental requirements on keeping salinity levels low.

"If you want to ask if climate change caused the current drought, that's the wrong question," Gleick said. "The question is really how climate change is influencing the extremes in California."

Farmers' problems will continue

For this year, the latest snowpack reading means that farmers and residents served by SWP likely will go without water deliveries this spring and summer, said Terry Erlewine, general manager of the State Water Contractors. The State Water Project has cut to zero its deliveries of water to its contractors.

"Even a March miracle would not have lifted California out of this drought," Erlewine said. "Conservation efforts have been significant, but won't be enough to protect water agencies and their customers from the impacts of losing such a major portion of their water supplies."

Republicans in Congress are pushing for more storage projects to get the state through future dry years. Reps. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) and Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) have offered legislation that would order construction of a 1.9-million-acre-foot reservoir in Northern California. Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.) has proposed expanding or building three more storage sites (Greenwire, March 20).

NRDC said large water projects likely aren't the right answer.

"We need to rethink projects that cost billions, take years to build and aren't going to help anytime soon," said Steve Fleischli, NRDC's Water Program director. "This drought is a critical opportunity for our leaders to step up and invest in what works: strategies that improve water efficiency and tap underused local supplies."

The drought likely isn't a short-term issue, said Lester Snow, executive director of the California Water Foundation, which advocates for sustainable water management. He was director of California's Department of Water Resources in former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) administration.

"This bone-dry winter is illustrative of California's new reality -- more extreme droughts and floods should be viewed as the norm," Snow said. "Unfortunately, the state is woefully unprepared to deal with the volatility of climate change and the challenges brought on by a growing population, conflicting water demands and aging water infrastructure."

He said that the state needs to invest and "adapt to 21st century needs."

"In order to make it through the current drought, and be prepared for the next one, California must reinvent the state's approach to managing a finite water supply," Snow said. "We must work together across regions and implement solutions that focus on diversifying water supplies, investing in state-of-the-art conservation and better managing groundwater basins, which are our greatest buffer against drought."

Reporter Debra Kahn contributed.