Water Education Foundation
This is just one post in the Climate change & water supply Category
Click here to view all posts

Climate change in the Golden State: Reducing greenhouse gas impacts in California’s urban water cycle

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 24, 2009 at 7:50 am

From the Water Efficiency Journal:

Water supply in California is becoming constrained by climate change, both directly and indirectly through the need to protect endangered species. Although the current water shortages in California are still referred to as droughts or often seen only as regulatory cutbacks to protect endangered fish species, they are undoubtedly part of a climate-driven trend. The State Water Project (SWP) depends on snowpack in the Sierra, which is projected to decrease drastically over the next few decades from changes in climate, and supply from the Colorado River to southern California has already been severely curtailed because of human-induced changes in hydrological cycles across the western US.

A July 2008 Federal Court ruling to protect endangered fish in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta mandated a significant reduction of pumping to the SWP which supplies most of central and southern California. After compilation of snowpack and reservoir data for winter 2008/2009, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) estimates that the reduction in deliveries to the SWP will be 85%. In anticipation of the Federal Court ruling, the Governor of California directed state agencies in February 2008 to prepare and implement a water conservation program to achieve a 20% reduction in statewide average per capita water use by the year 2020 (the 20×2020 Program).

Read more from the Water Efficiency Journal by clicking here.

June 24, 2009 · Filed Under Climate change & water supply

Comments

Leave a Reply