The Western United States remains mired in a serious drought. According to the most recent US Drought Monitor, 74.51% of the Western United States faces some sort of drought conditions. Extreme drought covers 18.87% of the West, with extreme and exceptional drought covering portions of California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. Despite an abnormal dose of rain last week from the remnants of Hurricane Dolores, forecasters have little hope in the immediate term that the record drought will abate. (However, the storms from Hurricane Dolores did break records in some areas for rainfall in July. Los Angeles averages just .01 inch of rain in July. On July 18th alone, Los Angeles received .36 inches of rain, which broke the monthly record of .24 inches set in 1886.) But in the longer term forecasts, scientists are feeling more certain that an El Niño pattern may strengthen this fall to provide drought relief to the parched West. Continue reading
Tag Archives: drought
Stormwater Infrastructure and its Potential Role to Change Water Supplies in California
As California slogs through the fourth year of unprecedented drought, all options are on the table to provide new water supplies to the drought-parched state. Last week, I wrote about recycled water and its potentially increased role in the Western United States’ water supply. In the post, however, I cautioned that the high costs associated with this water as compared to surface water supplies during “normal” rainfall years may make the implementation of widespread recycled water programs economically infeasible. Also, I alluded to the fact that the public sometimes has an aversion to recycled water programs due to phrases such as “toilet to tap” to describe the process of turning raw sewage into drinkable water. (Even some popular shows have discussed the theme. The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon had Bill Gates on as a guest, and he and Jimmy Fallon drank water from the Janicki Omniprocessor, a machine that can create clean water from sewage in minutes. Gates hopes to send these machines to areas across the globe to cut down on diseases due to inadequate sanitation systems.) Continue reading
Bottled Water and the Drought: The Center of Debate over Water Policy in Oregon and California
The drought in the western United States is currently at its worst across much of California and Nevada, where exceptional drought covers 46.73% and 18.38% of each state respectively according to the US Drought Monitor. Parts of Utah, Idaho and Oregon are also experiencing extreme drought. In Oregon’s case, the drought unfortunately is only getting worse. At the start of the calendar year, 49.29% of the state was under severe drought conditions or worse. Currently, 68.48% of the state is under these conditions. The drought has prompted Oregon Governor Kate Brown to declare drought emergencies in 15 counties. The drought declaration gives the affected counties eligibility to receive Federal funding and assistance to combat the lingering effects of the drought. In relation to the drought declaration she said, “The majority of our state is parched due to the warm winter and lack of snow. As we move into summer, many areas of the state are going to dry out quickly, likely leading to a difficult fire season as well as water shortages.” Continue reading
Drought Relief and Flooding in Texas and Oklahoma
What a difference a year makes. In Texas and Oklahoma, a year can almost put an end to the drought that has ravaged those states for years. One year ago, 90% of Texas was experiencing some level of drought, and exceptional drought covered approximately 25% of the state according to the US Drought Monitor. Oklahoma also experienced a similar turnaround. One year ago, some level of drought covered 94% of Oklahoma and exceptional drought covered 26.47% of the Sooner State. However, the rain deluge and the devastating floods that accompanied the rain have almost completely alleviated the drought conditions in both states. Continue reading