Most major California reservoirs below average at end of rainy season

Desdemona Despair

28 March 2016 (Rabett Run) – Last week I was asked by my Rotary Club to give opening comments before a guest speaker from Lockheed Martin talked about new technology developments, so I decided to talk about water and technology.

To set the stage, we’re having an unusually average water year in California. The story about Bill Gates walking into a bar and making the average patron a millionaire applies – California has lots of below-average years and a few really wet ones.

This year’s precipitation is kind of average – most of the state had slightly above average rainfall, some slightly below. The snowpack’s water content is at or slightly below average. The reservoirs shown above are mostly below average due to the multi-year drought. Groundwater conditions are much harder to find, but we already know the answer – they range from not-good to extremely bad. What little more rain we’ll get, however welcome, will not change any of this. We’re still in a drought. [more]

California water dreaming