(With expanded coverage of all the Western States)
by Patrick Ruckert
www.californiadroughtupdate.org/20230601-California-Water-and-Infrastructure-Report.pdf
A Note to Readers
May, 2023 has come and gone. The Bureau of Reclamation deadline for the states of the Colorado River Basin to come to an agreement on reducing withdraws from the river by two to four million acre feet per year was May 30. Now we await the Bureau’s decision on how that reduction will be divided, since it is the Bureau that has legal authority over the river.
The decision by California, Arizona, and Nevada to reduce their withdraws by 3 million acre feet over three years, may or may not be accepted by the Bureau. The decision is expected by sometime this summer.
This week’s report begins with the U.S. Drought Monitor maps of California, and the West more generally. The discussion of the drought conditions for the West are included with the maps.
It is not only the far western region of the nation, as the next item demonstrates, where drought is a serious problem, but it is severely damaging this year’s wheat crop in the mid-west.
In California, drought and flooding present a challenge to the Central Valley and other farmers in the state. A serious discussion of this by California Assembly Leader and 6th generation farmer, James Gallagher can be found beginning on page 4. It is a 38 minute video, and I urge you all to watch it: “Why Farmers are on the brink of bankruptcy, despite epic rainfall.”
The challenge now in the state is how to store all the water that has begun to melt from the snowpack. Two items– putting the water underground, and raising Shasta Dam– are included in this section.
Last week I reported on how Governor Newsom slapped his environmentalist supporters in the face once again by proposing the limiting of the time for approval of major infrastructure projects and bypassing some of the environmentalist roadblocks to such projects.
This week they slapped back at him, and the Democratic-led Assembly said, “no deal.”
On the Colorado River, we have two items this week, not really covering new ground, but both give updates on the present policy by the Bureau of Reclamation and some background on the states’ approach to the crisis.
The Feature this week is a report from my colleague Michael Carr on the deep planning already going on in Japan to transform its economy to a fusion-driven development project. A new potential “Sputnik moment” for the U.S?
News Flash: “Arizona announces limits on construction in Phoenix area as groundwater disappears.” See article on page 7.
