A week after declaring a drought emergency, Gov. Jerry Brown called California’s current drought “a stark warning of things to come” in his State of the State address Wednesday.
Brown’s emergency drought proclamation follows the beginning of the state’s third consecutive year of severely dry conditions, which could be the driest year California has seen in almost 500 years, according to B. Lynn Ingram, a UC Berkeley professor of earth and planetary science.
Despite Brown’s request for all Californians to voluntarily reduce their water consumption by 20 percent, Ingram, who researches climate change, believes increased water prices or usage restrictions ought to be implemented to ensure a change in individual behavior.
“It’s almost like the tragedy of the commons,” Ingram said. “People don’t often respond individually when it comes to the conservation of a common resource unless you have some sort of regulation.”
So far, the East Bay Municipal Utilities District, which provides drinking water for 1.3 million customers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, has not implemented water restrictions or increased its prices in response to the drought, according to Andrea Pook, an EBMUD spokesperson.
EBMUD has not declared a water shortage emergency based on its reservoir levels, which are 63 percent full in total, a level that is considered just below average.
“Although our reservoirs aren’t at alarming levels, what is alarming to us is the amount of precipitation we would normally receive,” Pook said. “In our rain and snow levels, we’re not seeing anything close to normal.”
Jeff Masters at Weather Underground:
If you’re wondering where California’s missing precipitation has been going, look northwards to the south and southeast coasts of Alaska.
The remarkably persistent ridge of high pressure that has blocked rain from falling in California during January has shunted all the rain-bearing low pressure systems northward, bringing exceptionally warm and wet weather to coastal Alaska. Heavy rains, snows, and warm temperatures helped trigger a series of huge avalanches that began on Friday, which blocked a 52-mile long section of the Richardson Highway, the only road into Valdez, Alaska (population 4,000), located about 120 miles east of Anchorage.
The avalanches, called some of the largest avalanches ever observed in the region, blocked the Lowe River in Keystone Canyon, creating a large backup of water behind the snow and ice dam. The water level is slowly dropping, but a Flash Flood Watch has been posted for the region in case the avalanche dam suddenly releases. The highway is expected to be cleared no earlier than February 2, according to the city of Valdez website. Extra marine ferries will be running during the blockage to provide supplies to Valdez.
There is only one way to change peoples attitudes and consumption and that is through the pocket. Put everyone on a meter and the problem would be solved overnight. Don’t be surprised by a lack of sympathy for a lifestyle of unbridled consumption.
Are there places in this country where people are NOT “on the meter” for water? I speak not of folks with wells, but anywhere there is a municipal water system.
Here in Northern VA, we have a “meter” that jacks prices way up during the summer months, to the point that it would cost $150-200+ a month extra to keep the grass on my 1/3 acre lot green all summer. I now water only my trees during dry spells, and am replacing the weeds that are now my “lawn” with zoysia, which is more drought tolerant than the bluegrass-fescue that looked so good We have lost many 30-40-50 year old trees to drought here in the past half dozen years.
One doesn’t see much “unbridled consumption” here anymore, certainly not in residential areas, and once the rains stop falling and we run out of water, it won’t matter how much people get charged—–the problem WILL be solved “overnight”.
Welcome to California, and watch Chinatown, the movie. Yes, sorry to say, there are many unmetered homes and farms in California. Seems strange with a 500 year drought looming. The peripheral canal, a canal sending water from Delta to LA, favored by gov. Jerry brown, opposed by John Garamendi, has been blocked for 40 years. In Fresno, households are charged a flat water rate. Half of all San Joaquin Valley residents are unmetered.
http://zeroresource.com/2010/07/22/they-dont-have-water-meters/
http://blogs.kqed.org/climatewatch/2011/06/15/a-water-meter-mandate-for-california-farms/
WOW! That is news to me.
Climatebob got it right when he said “Put everyone on a meter”. I for one am distinctly UNsympathetic towards “a lifestyle of unbridled consumption” of any natural resource, and I AM surprised that CA has not moved sooner, considering that water has been an issue for a while. I would bet that the expense of putting in all those meters has held them back, but that’s no excuse.
(And I now have Chinatown on my Netflix queue—I put it on there after the reference to it on another thread—maybe I’ll move it to the top)
It’s definitely not expense. It’s water wars, politics, agribiz and a lot of history.
dumboldguy,
I have a lot of respect for you for your many intelligent posts, but–or maybe just because of that…. I don’t understand how you can say “One doesn’t see much “unbridled consumption” here anymore” when you’re just getting around to replacing one type of water-wasting useless landscaping plant with another, slightly less water-wasting and even more useless (and invasive) landscaping plant. Why haven’t you moved to a permaculture system of food, fiber, medicine and material production which after the initial planting of mostly perennials, would probably take less work than your lawn and save water, energy, produce better food than you eat now… I don’t get it. Check out the book Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway, and Eric Toensmeier’s Perennial Vegetables. (May or may not have a lot for N. Va, but fruit trees, vines and bushes could make your yard an edible forest garden paradise.
And the “certainly not in residential areas” does point to the fact that residential use is about 9% of US water use. Agriculture, industry and electrical generation uses most of it. While we need to reduce our impact as much as we can as individuals, families, neighborhoods and communities, the most we can do, with low-flow everything, permaculture, xeriscaping, graywater systems and compost toilets in every residence, and radical attention to daily use, is to is shave off 6 or 7% of the total water use. Excellent, and let’s get to it, but political change to force the big users to cut use just as dramatically is absolutely necessary.
Good points all. Let me explain what is on my 13,000+ square foot lot. A house, garage, driveway, walks and considerable brick patios, as well as an 1800 square foot concrete slab called a Sport Court. My house is 40+ years old, and I have large Hemlock, Leyland Cypress, Burford Holly, and Autumn Olive hedges screening three sides of the property and some low evergreen landscaping shrubs along the walks across the front of the house. I have next to no “lawn” left, and the only water any of the “grass” or hedges get other than rain is when I occasionally water the three 40-year-old oaks and two white pines to keep them from dying like so many of my neighbor’s trees have done. I let my grass go brown in the summer. The zoysia gets no water beyond that and survives well enough, and my only lawn “work” is to mow it and fertilize it occasionally. (I DO compost grass clippings, tree leaves, and shrub trimmings)
I used to have a vegetable garden and do more “eco-friendly” things there, but it’s getting too shady on my lot (which does help a bit with my heating and cooling bills and thereby reduces my carbon footprint). I have insulated and double-paned, high efficiencied, and low flowed over the life of the house to the point that I have seen my energy consumption decrease significantly, and my wife and I use only a couple of thousand gallons of water a month. I hear what you’re saying, but I’m getting too old and tired to have much impact on my little “patch” beyond all that.
You make a good point about residential water use being a comparatively small factor. The water and land use laws in this country are a travesty, particularly out west, but the same type of folks we find behind fossil fuels are into the ag business as well and protect their bottom lines by buying elected officials and lobbying agencies.