This is really great because it lets you compare to other years. It also really shows the uptick in fullness due to the recent storms if you click on a resevoir.
Sorry for the dumb question... but what does "historical average" mean, which years? Is it all years? A subset? If CA has been in a drought for so long, why is the historical average often higher?
Good question. I found this info on another page: "historical average level of the reservoirs at the same time of year (e.g. March 8th) between 1960 and 2010."
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Despite historical rains these reservoirs are still not back to their historical average levels. I'm guessing they will continue to rise as water flows down hill following the storms, but it is hard to get a sense of what is going on because the first derivative is not displayed.
The same site's precipitation graph suggests that despite some recent precipitation, it's still only above average, rather than 'historic' for the period since last October:
Afaik, whiskeytown is kept close to full all year since it's downstream of the trinity lake reservoir, which looks more like lake Oroville with exposed shoreline.
I can't believe the timing of this link. I just watched a Wendover productions video on how NYC gets its water [0]. It was mindblowingly simple, but unimaginably expensive. Thanks for the link on California Reservoir. Can't wait to dig more on how this works.
Snowpack is already at 85% of April 1st averages (and almost double the average for this point in the season). All of that snow will be melting in early summer. I expect they're going to keep the reservoirs less filled than usual in the Spring, to ensure there is capacity to avoid getting running into issues like Oroville reservoir did a few years back.
The problem is that the snowpack is part of the storage system. The warmer summers melt the snowpack sooner in the year, reducing the amount of water being stored. I've hiked in winter snow in August, and even September, but not for a few years.
We survive that because the reservoirs are designed to hold more than a year's worth of water demand. But the integrity of the system depends on all the parts operating to some degree.
The legend uses the word "Filled". "Filled" means "containing as much or as many as is possible or normal. Opposite of empty." A better term for the legend might be "current level"?
Not an answer to the question but an aside related to it: After driving around in the Central Valley and looking at the massive agricultural industry there, it becomes very apparent that we're pumping a significant amount of water out of the ground and allowing it to evaporate into the atmosphere. I wonder how all of this additional moisture is impacting climate change as well. The scale of it all leads me to believe it's not insignificant, and the Central Valley is not the only place where this goes on.
It's a globally exported crop that's worth billions every year in direct sales. There's quite a bit of local economic activity that's tied to this production. You can stop it, the way you'd stop any export, tax it until it is no longer profitable to sell. You may get much more than you bargained for, though.
The underlying problem is that what you pay for water in California differs by many orders of magnitude depending on historical accident, and many almond farmers pay next to nothing.
A reform with a unifor water price would solve most of California's water issues. But I don't foresee that happening.
I’m a little confused by this comment. Agriculture, including the almond growers, only pay for the cost to permit, construct, and maintain a well, as well as electricity for the pump which is almost negligible.
Municipalities may have a water provider with a per gallon price. And finally, a very small few rely on rain water collection.
Having a “uniform water price” would never be possible, and even if it was, I am very skeptical it would “solve most of California’s water issues”.
Ground water usage is a separate problem, but I'm confident (without looking it up) that surface water (rivers & reservoirs) is the dominating source of farming water.
Almonds are a dry, splintery Packaging Peanuts used to fill up Space in Milk, Yogurt, Trail Mix, etc...
Comparing prices of Trail Mix with/without Almonds for example, and I usually find the Almond alternative is Cheaper, because (I believe) they're basically subsidized by California's over-use of Grandfathered Water Rights.
Side note - Most of CA reservoirs do not allow human contact. Meaning, no swimming, tubing, skiing, wakeboarding, etc. It stems from an archaic law before all potable water sources were filtered. Big bear reservoir and Lake Nacimiento, for instance, are specifically allowed for human contact in the law.
Personally, I wish we could open up all the reservoirs to all recreation.
Admittedly I haven't been to all lakes in California, but one time I went to Lake Shasta to do house boating for a week, and nearly every beach we landed on/near was littered with everything from old tires to car batteries to shotgun shells, plus the usual food/drink garbage.
I'd personally rather not allow "all recreation" in reservoirs used for drinking water.
Here’s the thing, all these reservoirs still allow boating, camping, etc, which contribute to the problems you're mentioning. They are already allowed. I’m just saying, it’s silly to not allow swimming as well. If you’d like to ban reservoir contact in totality, that’s one thing, but to not allowing swimming in the lake while all other activity is alllowed is just ridiculous.
