My original H2 No post talked about the drought, the Hetch Hetchy water levels and some of the metrics the experts use. Back on April 16th we were at 210,000 acre-feet and today the website shows 327,000 acre-feet. I imagine that is due to fast melting snowpack as the last Tahoe ski area closed two weeks ago and Sierra snowpack was at 4% of normal on May 20th. But that's not my main point today. In the weekend Wall Street Journal, U.S. Congressman Rep. Tom McClintock has an opinion piece about the amount of reservoir water that has been released to help salmon migrate. He discusses "pulse flows" that "generate such switch currents that local officials issue safety advisories" downstream. The water releases also keep the river temperatures down to salmon-friendly levels since the reservoir water is cooler.
Last month the Bureau of Reclamation drained Fulsom and other reservoirs on the American and Stanislaus rivers of more than 70,000 acre-feet of water--enough to meet the annual needs of a city of half a million people.
McClintock's basic point is that the state government and local municipalities are going to have a hard time getting people to buy into super-strict conservation measures (which are probably coming) when pulse flows and stalled legislation on new storage capacity are happening. He notes that Fulsom authorities have warned residents to expect rationing down to 50 gallons per person per day--a 60% cut from average household usage. The dry season is just starting and at least six months long, so this could get real bad.
By the way, I forgot to add the translation of the 70,0000 acre-feet that McClintock has in the article. That is 23 billion, with a B, gallons. At the 50 gallons a day per person ration that is 46M days of water.
Posted by: Joe | May 26, 2014 at 04:56 PM
Joe spotted a small flag had fallen on the road where the parade was to pass.He hurried to get the flag up off the ground so that no disrespect would be shown to it if someone were to inadvertently run over it. Good move Joe.
Posted by: Peter Garrison | May 26, 2014 at 05:05 PM
Joe, what does "M" in 46M days stand for?
Posted by: steve krause | May 30, 2014 at 06:34 PM
M = millions
Posted by: Joe | May 31, 2014 at 09:57 PM
Will The City of Burlingame have a Water Abuse Hot Line or Water Abuse Police Force?
If so, they better start today.
Posted by: [email protected] | June 03, 2014 at 07:31 PM