Water Shortage
Growing List Of Northern California Communities Running Out Of Water In Just 60 Days
California’s water shortage has reached a critical stage. At least a dozen communities in Northern and Central California are at risk of running out of water in just 60 days. The areas in jeopardy include Colusa and El Dorado County.
Daily household water allocation could be the next California drought strategy
As California’s severe drought moves into a fourth year, state and local water agencies are working on something called “allocation-based rate structures,” a kind of precursor to water rationing that’s all the rage in Sacramento and in some areas such as Santa Cruz, Irvine and Santa Monica. Here’s how it works: Your local water company, special district or city assigns you and your household a number in gallons — a daily water allocation.
Drought apocalypse begins in California as wells run dry
Water wells in central California have begun to run dry, reports the LA Times. (1) “Extreme drought conditions have become so harsh for the Central Valley community of East Porterville [that] many of its residents dependent on their own wells have run out of water.” Tulare County has confirmed their wells have run out of water, and so far hundreds of homes have no running water.
California water infrastructure on verge of historic collapse
Writing for The Washington Post (WP), journalist Joby Warrick draws attention to what many scientists say is an unprecedented collapse of California’s vast water infrastructure, which is marked by an elaborate system of canals, reservoirs and wells that transfer water from the mountains and other areas to the Central Valley. Altogether, the state contains some 27 million acres of cropland. This system is now failing, say experts, and the consequences will more than likely be unparalleled in California’s history.
Central California residents rely on bottled water as wells run dry
Extreme drought conditions have become so harsh for the Central Valley community of East Porterville, many of its residents dependent on their own wells have run out of water. Roughly 300 homes have received a three-week supply of bottled water after Tulare County officials discovered their wells had gone dry. In all, county officials distributed 15,552 1-gallon bottles of water, and have been filling a 2,500-gallon tank with nonpotable water so residents can flush toilets and bathe.
California Drought Has Already Left Some Homes Completely Without Water
Hundreds of rural San Joaquin Valley residents no longer can get drinking water from their home faucets because California’s extreme drought has dried up their individual wells, government officials and community groups said. The situation has become so dire that the Tulare County Office of Emergency Services had 12-gallon-per person rations of bottled water delivered on Friday in East Porterville, where at least 182 of the 1,400 households have reported having no or not enough water, according to the Porterville Recorder ( ). Many people in the unincorporated community about 52 miles north of Bakersfield also have been relying on a county-supplied 5,000-gallon water tank filled with non-potable water for bathing and flushing toilets, The Recorder said.
Drought Is Causing the Western U.S. to Rise Like an Uncoiling Spring
File under apocalyptic imagery: The western United States’ worst drought in possibly 500 years is causing the ground to rise up like an uncoiling spring. A new report in Science from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at U.
63 TRILLION gallons of groundwater lost in California drought so far
The ongoing drought in the western United States has caused so much loss of groundwater that the Earth, on average, has lifted up about 0.16 inches over the last 18 months, according to a new study. The situation was even worse in the snow-starved mountains of California, where the Earth rose up to 0.
