Category Archives: Drought

You Can’t Always Get What You Want – A Mick Jagger Theory of Drought Management

Posted on August 28, 2022 by jaylund

by Jay Lund [This is a reposting of a CaliforniaWaterBlog.com post from February 2016, near the end of the previous drought.  For human uses, conditions seem somewhat similar to this point in the previous drought, so this perspective might be … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, California Water, Drought, Economy, Uncategorized | Tagged | 2 Comments

Jobs per drop irrigating California crops

Posted on December 8, 2019 by jaylund

By Josué Medellín-Azuara, Jay Lund and Richard Howitt Reposted from Apr 28, 2015 (an oldie, but goodie!) Some of the most popular drought stories lately have been on the amount of what water needed to produce food from California, as a consumer … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Drought | Tagged , , , , , | 23 Comments

The Dreamt Land by Mark Arax: We’re all complicit in California’s water follies

Posted on October 21, 2019 by Ann Willis

by Ann Willis We are all sinners. At least, that’s the impression Mark Arax leaves in The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California. What’s bold, and distinguishes this book from others about California, is that Arax grapples with … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, California Water, Drought, education, Stressors, Sustainability | Tagged | 1 Comment

Eastern San Joaquin Valley and other CA drinking water supplies at risk in the next drought

Posted on November 12, 2018 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

by Amanda Fencl, Rich Pauloo, Alvar Escriva-Bou, Hervé Guillon During the 2012-2016 drought, the state received more than 2,500 domestic well failure reports, the majority of which were in the Central Valley (DWR 2018). This left thousands of people without a … Continue reading →

Posted in California Water, Drinking water, Drought | Tagged , | 2 Comments

SGMA struggles to overcome marginalization of disadvantaged communities

Posted on June 10, 2018 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

by Kristin Dobbin Small Disadvantaged Communities (DACs), or DACs with less than 10,000 people, have long been disproportionately affected by California’s water management woes such as groundwater overdraft and pollution. Now, new research from the UC Davis Center for Environmental … Continue reading →

Posted in California Water, Drinking water, Drought, Groundwater | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Improving Urban Water Conservation in California

Posted on May 6, 2018 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

by Erik Porse The relatively dry 2017-18 winter in California resurfaced recent memories of drought conservation mandates. From 2013-16, urban water utilities complied with voluntary, then mandatory, water use limits as part of Executive Order B-37-16. Urban water utilities met … Continue reading →

Posted in California Water, Conservation, Drought, urban water | Tagged | 3 Comments

Back to Dry – Get Organized and Prepared for Drought Again

Posted on March 4, 2018 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

by Jay Lund Despite this week’s rain and snow, California is back to dry conditions again after a very wet 2017.  With about four weeks left in the normal wet season, the Sacramento Valley is at about 65% of average … Continue reading →

Posted in California Water, Drought, Planning and Management | Tagged | 2 Comments

Drought Water Right Curtailment – Analysis, Transparency, and Limits

Posted on February 18, 2018 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

By Jay Lund, Ben Lord, Andrew Tweet, Wesley Walker, Chad Whittington, Reed Thayer, Jeff Laird, Quinn Hart, Nicholas Santos, William Fleenor, Julia Pavicic, Lauren Adams, and Bradley Arnold Drought often means not having enough water to satisfy all water-right holders. … Continue reading →

Posted in California Water, Drought, Tools | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Beginning of 2018 drought? – December 31, 2017

Posted on December 31, 2017 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

by Jay Lund Every year is different for water management in California. The 2012-2016 water years were among the driest and warmest on record.  2017 was the wettest year of record for much of California, with thousands of water managers … Continue reading →

Posted in California Water, Drought | Tagged | 5 Comments

Small, self-sufficient water systems continue to battle a hidden drought

Posted on August 6, 2017 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

by Amanda Fencl and Meghan Klasic California’s drought appears over, at least above ground. As of April 2017, reservoirs were around 2 million acre feet above normal with record breaking snowpack . This is great news for the 75% of Californians that … Continue reading →

Posted in California Water, Drought, Stressors, Sustainability, Water Supply and Wastewater | Tagged | 8 Comments