Drought 2021: Here We Go Again

I'm still bothered by state Sen. Scott Weiner's naïve response to a water question he got during his visit to B'game almost two years ago.  When asked "where will the water come from to support all the new housing (and people) you are demanding?" his response landed squarely between "I don't know", "We should look at that" and "It's not my concern".  Two years have passed--both drought years -- and we are no closer to a state-wide plan than we were then.  There's always something "more important" getting in the way and yet the development addicts seem able to press on with their demands.

Here in B'game, the every five-year update to our Urban Water Management Plan is behind schedule.  Public works has been swamped (no pun intended) with parklets, paving projects, going green and adding traffic lights and signage.  The next update will be the first to comply with a new state mandate that it examine a five-year drought instead of only a three-year episode.  That should make for interesting reading when the first draft comes out--hopefully soon.

In the meantime, here we go again according to the Comicle

The state’s monthly snow survey on Tuesday will show only about 60% of average snowpack for this point in the year, the latest indication that water supplies are tightening. With the end of the stormy season approaching, forecasters don’t expect much more buildup of snow, a key component of the statewide supply that provides up to a third of California’s water.

Urban water agencies, meanwhile, are asking customers to think twice about long showers and outdoor watering. The calls for austerity will feel familiar to many Californians who less than five years ago faced mandatory water restrictions during the 2012-2016 drought.  More importantly, the northern Sierra’s 8-Station Index, which tracks rain in the region where California gets the bulk of its water, measured only 45% of average precipitation.  While March and April could still bring rain, the heart of the wet season is over. Much of the state is now poised to have a top-10 dry year.

As an avid skier, I can recall several Miracle Marches and even an Amazing April or two, but let's face it, the people who are trying to overbuild the Bay Area just don't care.  It's time some other leaders stepped in and called for a reset, a review, a plan and compliance.

Update:  Yesterday a huge branch fell off a street tree at Vernon and Clarendon hitting the nearby house.  The drought is stressing trees throughout the state, so expect more of this until we prioritize trees over condos and offices.

Update:  March 24.  In today's Comicle:  "It would have to be biblical to adjust a water allocation at this point," (Karla) Nemeth (director CDWR) said, referring to the end of the winter season.

Comments

[Joe]

Here is at least one guy who appears to get it.

Plans to redevelop an historic union gathering hall into a 120-unit condominium building near the Millbrae train station received support from officials who put it on a path to final approval by the Burlingame City Council.

Commissioner Michael Gaul concurred, but said he would like to see a study of the city’s water supply that he expected would be constrained by the uptick in development throughout Burlingame.

https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/officials-bless-burlingame-historic-redevelopment-plans/article_571f0df4-7a4d-11eb-b262-377c7277efdf.html

[Cassandra]

Plans afoot to build on Mercy Center property? Chaos ensues...

[Everything's Jake]

I'm sure our astute governor has a plan to collect and/or conserve water in our declining state [that was sarcasm]!

[MBGA]

Yes, the high speed rail can carry water from Fresno to all new housing built near rail stations. No need to build pipelines. Just clean green buckets from station to home.

[Joe]

On the topic of SoCal desalinization:

MARCH 04, 2021 KERRY JACKSONTIMES OF SAN DIEGO
Often the value of a plan or project can best be judged by its opposition. In the case of the proposed Poseidon desalination plant in Huntington Beach, the forces lined up against it are clear indicators that it’s a worthwhile enterprise.

The Sierra Club calls the plant “rather pathetic,” “the most expensive and environmentally damaging way to secure Orange County’s future water supply.”

A research paper co-authored by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the California Coastkeeper Alliance, the California Coast Protection Network, and several other groups says that “given the significant energy, climate, and financial costs of desalination, California should prioritize water conservation, water use efficiency, stormwater capture, wastewater recycling, and renewably powered groundwater desalination.”

In favor of the $1.4 billion plant, almost but not quite unexpectedly, is Gov. Gavin Newsom. Some argue his support is of no worth because the birthday party he attended at a Napa Valley restaurant last fall at the same time he had told Californians to stay home was for a Poseidon lobbyist. (Ed: Who knew???)

Turning ocean brine into clean drinking water is not science fiction. Roughly 60 miles south of Huntington Beach, the Claude “Bud” Lewis desalination plant in Carlsbad has been producing potable water for five years. At a cost of roughly $1 billion, it churns out about 50 million gallons a day, “providing more than 7% of San Diego County’s water,” California journalist Steven Greenhut wrote last year in “Winning the Water Wars.”

It’s just one of 11 desalination plants in the state. Ten more have been planned.

https://www.pacificresearch.org/san-diegos-successful-desal-plant-should-be-a-model-for-california-water-policy/?utm_source=Pacific+Research+Institute&utm_campaign=93f5645d1c-California+E-mail+122019_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_54315d0e14-93f5645d1c-223155145

[JP]

Too bad the Lawn Be Gone people do not understand it means Trees Be Gone too.

[hollyroller@gmail.com]

One of my Burlingame Voice friends told me that someone died by a tree failure in Burlingame recently. I hope not.
What happened with the "Settlement" regarding the Tree Failure in Washington Park? Someone died there too. Very Sad.

[Joe]

Three weeks after the original post, the spigot is being tightened by the state. Oroville is at half of "normal" and Shasta is at two-thirds. SFPUC is claiming we have "enough supply to weather a few more dry years". I added the Comicle headline today.

[Joe]

I won't bother to add the Front Page Headline in today's Comicle about the drought. Today is the day they measure the "peak snowpack" in the Sierra and the expectation is 60% of normal--second year in a row well below normal. And there is this:

https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/san-francisco-has-driest-2-rainy-seasons-in-170-years/article_07ed5cb4-935b-11eb-bcbc-7f3a43736d32.html

Do you think anyone "beginning the housing discussion in San Mateo" might ask where the water will come from????

https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/san-mateo-begins-housing-discussion/article_2effc946-929c-11eb-97a0-bfec09358d35.html

[Joe]

I take the SF Comicle for the comedy of it all. It's a comedy of errors most of the time. Thursday's edition was another piece of work. On page A5 we got a rehash of all the drought news you have already heard here and elsewhere. We're in a Megadrought that started in 1999. The reservoirs are low. Two-thirds of the West is in drought affecting 74 million people. Etc. Etc. Etc. It sounds serious and there is no solution in sight. Got it.

Then you flip to page A14 and the editorial headline reads "The uphill battle to build housing". More of the same crap the Comicle clowns publish regularly. We have "anemic housing production" which is a "continuing indictment of California housing policy". Assemblyman David Chiu--bound and determined to mess up the whole state instead of doing something about his own disastrous SF district, wants to "cajole housing-averse cities into meeting the state's meticulously formulated but broadly ignored housing goals by tying some funding to their progress". What an idiot. I have a thought about where Chiu can put his Blood Money. When the state goes thirsty, I hope his neighborhood is the thirstiest.