Category Archives: Hydrologic Risk

Can Arizona Avoid Future Cutbacks in Allocation from the Colorado River?

As I wrote in a March 2016 Hydrowonk Post, the El Niño rains did not provide even drought relief across the western United States. Some areas have seen record rainfall. For example, Houston, Texas recorded the wettest April on record this year. A slow moving storm from April 15-18 dumped almost a foot of rain in some areas of greater Houston, more than 3 times the average rainfall for the entire month of April. The Pacific Northwest also received very plentiful rainfall. At the beginning of the water year (September 30, 2015), Washington State had 100% of its land mass covered in some form of drought according to the US Drought Monitor. As of this week, 96.71% of the state was drought-free. Unfortunately, not all areas in the west fared as well as the Pacific Northwest in terms of drought relief. Continue reading

California and Florida: Coasts Apart, but Facing Similar Challenges Related to Drought and Saltwater Intrusion

California and Florida may be on opposite coasts, but they have more similarities than you may expect in relation to water supply challenges. While California and much of the Western Unites States remains in the grip of a long-term drought, the Southeastern United States has quietly and unfortunately also entered into drought. Southern states including Florida, South Carolina, Alabama and Louisiana are experiencing drought conditions, in some cases severe. The most recent US Drought Monitor shows that while drought conditions in the Sunshine State have abated somewhat, approximately 27.1% of Florida is experiencing some level of drought. The drought conditions are at their worst near the population centers of Tallahassee in the north and Miami in the south. Just a month ago, close to 40% of the state was in some form of drought and extreme drought covered parts of Southeastern Florida west of Miami. Continue reading

Water Rights Curtailments in California – How Deep Will the Cuts be in 2015?

Since Governor Jerry Brown announced sweeping new mandatory water reductions in an executive order in early April, the news media and blogging communities have been quick to point the finger at many different types of water users as the “culprit” and “poster child” of the drought. As I mentioned in my last post, new land development is now in the crosshairs of water issues in the state. In addition, articles have pointed the finger at everything from swimming pools, green lawns, almonds, rice, bottled water and breweries in the Golden State, saying that they all have been a contributor to the State’s declining water supplies. Continue reading

The Dwindling Delta Smelt Population: What does it mean for the species and humans that rely on the Delta?

The drought in California unfortunately continues unabated. According to the most recent US Drought Monitor, 41.41% of the Golden State remains in exceptional drought. Much of the land area in the Central Valley and major population centers such as Los Angeles remain stuck in the exceptional drought category. Only about .15% of the state’s land area is drought free, about 245.5 square miles by my calculations. As you can see from the map below, the only area of the state that is designated as drought free is a rural area of southeastern San Bernardino County, generally between Lake Havasu and Parker, AZ. Continue reading