California suffering through driest three years ever recorded, with no relief in sight
Aerial view of Lake Hughes, California, looking toward the East Valley
Lake Hughes is a dry lake bed in the Sierra Nevada. It is the largest of the three California lakes fed by the East and West Branch Owens River. Lake Hughes was formed by the collapse of the dam at the end of the Owens River.
Lake Hughes is a dry lake bed in the Sierra Nevada. It is the largest of the three California lakes fed by the East and West Branch Owens River. Lake Hughes was formed by the collapse of the dam at the end of the Owens River.
California’s Sierra Nevada watershed has experienced its driest period since data began being recorded, due to drought, according to a report Wednesday from the state Water Resources Control Board.
The board’s report says Lake Hughes is at 50% capacity, Lake Alpine is at 40% and Lake Tehama is at 40%. The biggest reservoir in the Sierra is Lake Alpine, with a capacity of 7.6 million acre-feet.
The report was requested by Gov. Jerry Brown but released Wednesday. The board’s mission is to monitor the state’s water supply and control dams in dry years.
The report is not based on any new measurements, only on data previously published by the State Water Project and the United States Geological Survey.
The drought has been devastating to the state’s agriculture. More than 100,000 acres of farmland have been affected by the two-year-long, drought-fueled dry spell that has caused farmers to plant winter wheat, alfalfa and other crops at levels lower than they were able to produce during normal years, according to the report.
So Cal Ed, the statewide education advocacy group, has joined other groups to ask the state Legislature to appropriate $16 billion in new funding to solve the drought.
More than 50 groups have sent a letter to the Legislature Friday asking it to appropriate the money. The letter argues that the only way to overcome the drought is to increase water allocations to cities, schools and farmers.
State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De Leon