Archive for April 4th, 2015

Coping With California’s Drought

National Public Radio: In a week when Governor Jerry Brown announced mandatory water restrictions, NPR's Arun Rath talks with reporter Kirk Siegler about his visit to the Sierra Nevada mountains, where the snowpack so vital to the state water supply is dramatically absent. ARUN RATH, HOST: While the world struggles with the problem of too much oil, here in California we're consumed with a far more primal concern - not enough water. From the moment we moved this show to Los Angeles, we've been reporting on how bad...

One Farmer’s Battle with California’s Worst Drought

Climate Central: On a warm March afternoon, farmer Cannon Michael walks alongside wheat fields adjacent to his house in Los Banos, in California's Central Valley. Most of these fields won't be watered again this year. Cannon Michael in on a mission to preserve farming in California, despite layers of agricultural regulations and the state's historic drought. "Wheat's not a glamorous crop, but it makes a lot of bread,' Michael quips. This wheat, though, won't return much money, Michael says. So it will be...

The many droughts of California

New York Times: CALIFORNIA has only two seasons, rainy and dry. In March, when the rains stop — assuming they have begun — we must forget about precipitation for at least six months. The rainfall determines our mood for the summer and fall. Where I live, on the Central Coast, 17 inches of rain per winter has been the long-term average. Beating that number — we last did it five years ago — feels like winning the lottery. Lately, the average has been well under 10. The difference between a good rain year in California...

California imposes first-ever mandatory water restrictions

Al Jazeera: Four years of a historic drought that has left California parched forced Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday to declare the first mandatory water restrictions in the state’s history. He ordered the State Water Resources Control Board to enact mandatory cuts in water use by 25 percent, which could save 1.5 million acre-feet of water over nine months. An acre-foot contains 325,851 gallons of water. Brown issued the executive order while visiting the Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada — an area that...