Countdown to the next drought, since we are woefully short of water storage facilities (dams are letting out excess water in many dams in Northern California, and the snowpack melt hasn't started yet).
California stores plenty of water. Many times more than non-ag users would ever need. The issue is the incredible demand that agriculture, now just 2% of the state economy, places on water resources. If farmers want more water storage so they can waste water planting hugely inefficient crops like almonds and pistachios they are more that welcome to build and pay for a dam themselves. California taxpayers shouldn't have to foot the bill. Oh, and I wish them luck with finding an undamed river without salmon or steelhead runs with a location unused and unloved enough that you can plop a reservoir on it.
The California Water Project has enough storage capacity for a three-year drought. Four years with some cutbacks. That was enough from the 1960s to 2015. This drought was five years long, the longest since weather records have been kept.
Citation on five years being the longest drought in California since records were kept?
Are the aquifers/groundwater sources filled up/filling? Seems like they have been kind of overtapped for awhile in many areas. If they ever get back up to high levels then maybe we should celebrate.
Groundwater takes decades to replenish, and that's a huge source of water we've been tapping.
Add in the fact that the ground sinks when enough water goes out of it, I'm not sure that it will ever come back until civilization leaves.
I heard reports that they are filling. Doubtful that they are filled up though.
It's a similar situation here in Australia. People keep complaining about water shortages and climate change, but actually what we have is an infrastructure-investment shortage.
People love to complain about the Sydney desalinisation plant investment as it's usage has been limited. Given the importance of water and the number of times Sydney has been in drought seems a short sighted view.