Worst Drought Ever

"California teeters on the edge of the worst drought in the state's history, officials said Thursday after reporting that the Sierra Nevada snowpack - the backbone of the state's water supply - is only 61 percent of normal.

January usually douses California with about 20 percent of the state's annual precipitation, but instead it delivered a string of dry, sunny days this year, almost certainly pushing the state into a third year of drought.

The arid weather is occurring as the state's water system is under pressure from a growing population, an aging infrastructure and court-ordered reductions in water pumped through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta - problems that didn't exist or were less severe during similar dry spells in the late 1970s and late 1980s.

"We're definitely in really bad shape," said Elissa Lynn, chief meteorologist with the state Department of Water Resources. "People can expect to pay higher prices for produce ... and more agencies may be rationing ... some raising fees. We just don't have enough water."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/29/MNC615JNHB.DTL

And yet there are developers who are still determined to build more mini cities in the central valley.

in Northern California. I had to give up growing food in my yard. We don't flush for yellow. We use a shut-off valve during showers to save water. We installed a foot pedal to control the water in the kitchen. All our actions to save water will result in the water company reducing our baseline usage and expecting us to cutback further. And yet there are green lawns all over town. Sucks.

to see so many of our neighbors watering their lush, green yards. Or better yet, hosing down their driveways because they are too lazy to rake or sweep!!

I like the idea of a shut off valve in the shower -- I am going to look into installing one in ours.

The foot pedal is a good idea, too!

Cast brass. Really nicely made. We love it. Since we wash dishes by hand, it really saves water over running it while you scrub.

anywhere from Malibu to San Diego. You can see very plainly the contrast between the natural landscape and the developments, it is so graphic and obvious what is wrong with SoCal.

You live in a desert and pumping trillions of gallons of water onto that desert to have green grass, golf courses, and forests is just crazy as well as unnecessary.

For years, California had drought policies developed over years to deal with water consumption during droughts.

All that stopped with the GOP's Great Aryan Hope™.

The amount of water that gets wasted so that people can have green lawns is sickening.

They troll the neighborhoods looking for people unnecessarily watering their lawns. We regularly have times when lawn watering is PROHIBITED. I don't have a problem with that.

On the subject of drought though, we're lucky here I guess. Big Bear Lake has NO feeder streams, aquifers, or rivers to replenish what it loses due to evaporation and use. Still, the lake is only a little over six feet from full, and the snowpack isn't melted yet. We're even expecting three days of snow next weekend. I'm perplexed as to how the lake maintains its level when there is so little rainfall.

Everyone needs to conserve water. There are so many ways! Population growth in a place that isn't equipped to sustain it naturally is a very bad thing. That doesn't stop oodles of people from coming here to live.

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/central_texas_drought_worst_in_country

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Drought conditions in the Austin area are getting worse by the day, and new data out Thursday night shows the drought in Central Texas is the worst in the country. It is damaging livestock, crops and lake recreation.

Lake Travis is 27 feet below capacity, and as we continue in the midst of a category-4 drought, which is the worst level there is, the lake could drop another 25 feet by the end of the summer. These are dicey days to be boating on Lake Travis. Besides those pop-up islands, there is hidden debris udner the surface, lurking close to your boat's keel.

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Not only is there the increased likelihood of dangerous wild fires, crops face a bleak future and livestock is hurting. There is no forage. Stock tanks are dry, and without supplemental feed, cattle are dying. Of Texas, 70 percent is in a drought, the worst of it in a growing circle between Austin and San Antonio. Vets are being flooded with sick and dying livestock because of the drying conditions.

"I've been in this business for 30 years, and I've never seen anything like this," said Dr. Gary Warner, with the Elgin Veterinary Hospital . "I've been a farmer and rancher for 20 years, and it's the worst I've ever seen. We're all devastated."

We have had about 3 rainy days since July!

We have lived here for 32 years and up until about Thanksgiving our pond had dropped to the lowest level its ever been. However since mid November we have had more or less constant rain or snow and it had just about returned to its normal spring level. That is to say for us the water level is up about 3 feet. Our pond has no feeder streams, its almost exclusively filled by rain and snow melt. So 36 inches of water is significant in a place that normally gets about 45 inches of precipitation per year.