(With expanded coverage of all the Western States)
by Patrick Ruckert
www.californiadroughtupdate.org/20231102-California-Water-and-Infrastructure-Report.pdf
A Note to Readers
Please excuse this rather perfunctory introduction. But time presses this evening.
We begin with the U.S. Drought Monitor map of California, and find little change from the previous week.
Then my “Mea Culpa” in regard to an article in last week’s report.
Only California, the land of droughts and floods, would issue a “Water Plan” that has two out of three of its “overarching themes,” “climate change” and “equity.”
It may be November now, but, “A Southern California wildfire fueled by desert winds burned 2,487 acres (1,010 hectares) and prompted evacuation orders for more than 4,000 people in Riverside County, officials said on Tuesday.”
Here is my introduction to the most important article this week on the Colorado River crisis:
“The immediate article below is very important, for it raises the question that no one else has raised thus far: What if the decision by the Bureau of Reclamation to go 100% for the policy adopted by California, Arizona and Nevada to save 3 million acre-feet of water by 2026 is not enough to ensure that Lake Mead will not continue to decline toward ‘dead pool’?”
The article can be found on page 5.
And more on how the “sky is really falling,” is the new report that includes the statement: “The truth is that we are shocked by the ferocity of the extreme weather events in 2023. We are afraid of the uncharted territory that we have now entered.”
This week’s final section is titled, “Some ‘Extra Credit’ Reading for the Detail Inclined,” and includes this introduction:
“The two following articles discuss the technical and political options and the crises in the making for the southwest states, as population in the region grows and both the Colorado River and the pumping of groundwater are both at risk.”
