After a string of March storms helped balance out California’s dry start to winter, state officials are celebrating above-average snowpack levels for the second season in a row.
Statewide snow water equivalent — the amount of water in snowpack — was about 110 percent of the April 1 average, the California Department of Water Resources reported last week. This April reading, considered the peak time to measure snowpack, sets the tone for spring runoff into the state’s rivers and reservoirs.
The Hill asked Jay Lund, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at University of California, Davis, what he thought about the water supply outlook.
Q: California ended up accumulating above-average snowpack this season despite the dry start to the winter. Does this bode well for the region’s water supply?
A: This bodes very well for California’s water supply this year. Most of the state has been neither too dry nor too wet. But, California is a big state with some much drier and highly productive agricultural regions. These regions would like to receive more water, in part to address large average annual overdrafts of groundwater.
Q: What can California do to optimize how it captures and stores this season’s snowmelt and runoff?
A: California water managers in hundreds of water agencies are working diligently to store water in reservoirs and aquifers for this year’s dry season and future dry years. These efforts need to continue. There will be some expansion of infrastructure to store more groundwater and some (expensive and controversial) expansions to surface water storage.
These useful efforts will not eliminate water scarcity in a dry land with many large water uses. California will always be subject to droughts, just as the eastern seaboard will always be subject to hurricanes. But preparation greatly reduces their harm.
Q: In a late-March blog post about this year’s “March Water Madness” bracket, you declared that “no outcome has prevailed statewide,” noting that some areas have fared better than others. Do any spots stand out in your mind in either direction?
A: California has been fortunate to have an unusually average water year this year. This does not end water problems, but it eases many problems of too much water from last year and too little water for most areas in preceding drought years. In such average years, we cannot become complacent. It is an opportunity to better prepare for the return of droughts and floods, which are California’s climate, especially with worsening climate and ecosystem conditions.
