Posted on 01/07/2023 6:08:04 PM PST by nickcarraway
A bomb cyclone hit California this week, knocking out power, downing trees, and dumping massive amounts of water.
Some California residents are watching this precious H20 wash away and wondering, why can't we save the water for times when we desperately need it?
The state grapples with drought, but it's not as simple as putting out a big bucket, says hydrogeologist and professor at UC Santa Cruz, Andrew Fisher.
Professor Fisher spoke with NPR about the challenges facing the state, but also the opportunities that are already being worked on.
This interview has been lighted edited for length and clarity.
Interview highlights
On how much water can be stored for later and where
Some of it can be captured for later, but the short answer is it falls so quickly that we lack the ability to take that water and set it aside quickly enough in a place where we can store it for later. The primary forms of storage for water in California are the snowpack, that typically accumulates annually, and then reservoirs behind dams, and then groundwater aquifers.
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And the challenge is that when we get a lot of rainfall like this, it's not forming snowpack in lower areas. And reservoirs tend to fill up rather quickly. Then we have aquifers, and they have space, but it's hard to get water where it needs to be so it can infiltrate into the ground. And even then, it's hard to get it in fast enough.
On the different challenges with capturing rainwater
Because the water falls at a very fast rate and it creates a hazard, we do tend to treat stormwater as a nuisance and try to get it off the landscape as quickly as possible.
So, when we have the option to hold that water back a little bit and let it percolate into the ground, this is a tremendous opportunity. However, sometimes that water is not suitable for drinking. That's an additional bottleneck because you can't treat the water as quickly as it's falling or as quickly as it's running off. And, of course, the level of treatment you need might vary from place to place, and it does create quite a logistical challenge in order to deal with that water.
On where the stormwater flows when it's not being captured
It's going to a variety of places. A lot of it will end up rolling out to the ocean. Some of it is being diverted and we're collecting some of this stormwater and directing it towards infiltration basins where it can percolate into the ground.
There are other folks around the state and around the western United States who run similar projects. So people are trying to collect as much of this stormwater as we can when we have this opportunity. It turns out, a lot of water is falling, a lot of water is running off, so a large part of that does end up flowing out to the ocean.
On the current storm with more rain coming
I've got a student group that's out right now, sampling from some of our systems. And we dashed out here between the storms, because it's an opportunity when it's safe to go collect water samples and see how water quality looks. I'll just note that we have to get more water in the ground. We simply have no choice.
The water level at the Oroville Dame seems to be going up!
https://oroville.lakesonline.com/Level/
California’s human population has more than doubled in the last 40 years. California has not expanded its water storage capacity in that time. California water policies are complete insanity. The failure to capture rainstorm runoff has never been addressed. Even though the voters passed proposition one in 2014, providing billions of dollars for increased water storage capacity. Not a single project has broken ground. California is governed by criminals, and inhabited by imbeciles..
So what is more efficient use of land. A solar collector or a water collector.
Sierra Club types prevent dams/reservoirs from being built. That simple.
We can’t save more water because Kalifornia is run by radical envrionMENTALists, also known as Degrowthers, who are doing everything in their power to make life miserable and unsustainable for humans.
BTW....we are not in a drought...less than or significantly less than average annual rainfall is normal here.
The stupid assholes in our legislature would just tax it at a rate of 1000 dollars a drop, then REQUIRE you to install 4 catchment barrels!
Yeah; I’m just waiting for the none-existent “MAINTENANCE” and the low bid repairs to fail and flood out Oroville and Sacto (hope it drowns ever goddamn politician in the state).
There have been some reservoir expansions in CA. For example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Vaqueros_Reservoir#2010%E2%80%932012_expansion_project
A much larger expansion (Phase III) is in the works, and even supported by several major environmental groups, but the funds are apparently not yet all secured.
Problem is, these actions have been moving at a glacial pace, and much more is needed.
Hmmm. “Why Can’t California Save Water for the Drought”? They prevent people from saving water or damming up creeks in order to save the snail darter or whipper snail (never heard of a whipper snail, but that’s because they are almost extinct due to too much water in California waterways——so sue me—or sue California—or farmers in California—everyone else does).
IT’s TO SAVE HUMANITY!!!
Sheesh, do I have to explain everything in such detail?
Seriously, folks. Sometimes we get massive amounts of rain in the south. Sometimes we get droughts that can last for years and wells and water systems go dry and people have to conserve water.
Decades ago, after a particularly bad drought, southern states built these things called man-made lakes (we call them watersheds) using the natural creeks and rivers that flow through the state. Some people were upset because the States did take some property, but after legal action was taken, it appears everyone was compensated for their losses and are now okay with how things worked out. People also build ponds. Especially farmers. The state doesn’t prevent farmers from building pasture ponds on their property that catch rain as it falls and that water is therefore stored up for future use. When rainfall is heavy, it fills the lakes and ponds and soaks into the aquifer and keeps the water tables in the area high. Water systems and wells thus stay full.
Anyway, these lakes and farm ponds capture the rainfall and when the next drought came along, the situation was not as dire. Farm animals had access to water, although the levels did get low at times, and fewer water systems had problems. Those droughts are few and far between in the south, but we made a plan to deal with them and now, even though we hope not to have a one that stresses our resources, we at least made a effort to minimize the effect on our resources.
For California, is the best plan to just allow your rain and snow pack to just run off into the ocean? Is there no other alternative? That seems to be a bad planning strategy. Didn’t there used to be more lakes and dams in that state that could capture water during heavy rain and snow times so that the water could be used at a later date? What happened to those?
“California Is Getting Drenched. So Why Can’t it Save Water for the Drought?”
uh, because they’re spending a hundred billion dollars on a train to nowhere that will never be finished instead of building a hundred billion dollars worth of new reservoirs in their watersheds?
Lake Shasta has risen 15 feet since Dec 20. It has a long way to go , but ithe current inflow is approx 20,000 and out flow ( for power generation) is 1400. Numbers are in cubic feet per second. So it is working. Snow melt will also be captured in reserviors like Shasta later this spring.
BTW, I am glad to see the inflow so much higher than the outflow, we can get electricity from (Nuclear?) I hope soon.
“California Is Getting Drenched. So Why Can’t it Save Water for the Drought?”
Because the rain contains the endangered spurvy fluted ding gnat. The spurvy fluted ding gnat only comes out when it’s raining because it’s wings become so desiccated and brittle in California’s dry weather, their wings could actually snap off with the slightest flutter. The moisture from the rain “plumps up” the spurvy fluted ding gnat’s wings adding flexibility and resilience...allowing it to search for food and to irritate humans. California is hoping to protect these delicate insects, and have decided not to collect the falling rainwater.
Well.
Y’all outlawed plastic bags. So, what are we supposed to gather up all that loose water in? Paper bags?
Shasta has gone from 31% capacity to 36 in a week. I make that as 5% of 4.5 million acre feet, or about 225,000 acre feet. Needless to say, thats a whole lot of water impounded
Make more reservoirs, Californians can’t get anything right.
AAANNND WE HAVE A WINNNAAAAHHHH!!!
CA Native, here; and so far as I know, in the past 40 years, this benighted State has built ONE new reservoir: Los Vaqueros in East Contra Costa County.
Our population has doubled, but our freshwater retention capacity has remained — for all intents and purposes — STATIC.
For the Legislative body overseeing a region that tends NATURALLY to the dry side to UTTERLY FAIL to ensure that reservoir capacity keeps pace with the State’s population amounts to nothing less than the intentional manufacture of a drought that was PREVENTABLE, and annually threatens both human lives and human livelihoods.
All involved need to be machine-gunned into a drainage ditch.
“Gibberish’’
Consarn, no good scalliwaggin’ bush whackin’ cracker croakers!
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