Dire news indeed, Sierra Nevada snowpack is the lowest since records began fifty years ago. The snow irrigates and provides drinking water for much of California. The average California snowpack this year is a dismal 12%.
Southern California is in better shape than the rest of the state. The behemoth Metropolitan Water District says they’ve been preparing for a drought like this for twenty years. Castaic and Pyramid lakes north of Los Angeles are full, and are the only full reservoirs in the state. MWD invested billions in this, planned ahead, and deserve congratulations.
However, even MWD is worried
[MWD General Manager Jeffrey] Kightlinger also said MWD would be open to forgoing some water shipments and transferring them to needy districts in other parts of the state if enough storms come along in the next two months to raise the level of depleted reservoirs upstate.
But “right now we don’t even have those supplies in Northern California,” he said. “Frankly, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Various lowlifes, like Governor Jerry Brown, are using the drought as a pretext to waive pesky environmental regulations and maybe even get his pet twin tunnels project built to siphon water away from northern California.