Where\u2019s the water?<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t look now, but we\u2019re in a world of hurt waterwise going into summer 2026. All across the west \u2013 Colorado to California, Utah to Arizona and more \u2013 snowpack is at the lowest or near lowest ever recorded.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a big deal because we depend on that winter snow to provide our summer water, at least we have for the last couple of centuries. We\u2019re supposed to make it into July or so with melting snow in the high country feeding our streams, rivers and irrigation ditches.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, California is in a bit better shape than we were in 2015, the last severe snow and water shortage. That\u2019s because water leaders here started planning, knowing things were going to get worse eventually. So water was stashed in multiple reservoirs, and (especially in Southern California) we got serious about using recycled water for more than watering lawns.<\/p>\n
Allow me to present my credentials to be talking about this. I\u2019ve been writing about water for most of my 40+-year journalism career.<\/p>\n
I served on the Long Beach Water Commission (before it was the Utilities Commission) for eight years. And I was president of that commission in 2015, the worst of a series of drought years in California.<\/p>\n
We were banging the drum loudly back then to raise awareness about the drought and the need to conserve water. We raised rates. We paid people to remove lawns and add drought-tolerant gardens. We limited how often people could water their landscapes.<\/p>\n
So I\u2019m more than a little concerned that we aren\u2019t seeing more noise about this building water crisis here and across the West. I guess that\u2019s partly because we\u2019re better prepared now than we were a decade ago, and here in California there is little worry we\u2019re going to run out of water \u2013 this summer, at least.<\/p>\n
Oh, there have been some news stories. Ironically, the stories getting the most attention, both here and in Colorado, are about ski areas being forced to close earlier than ever because they don\u2019t have any snow.<\/p>\n
Allow me to ring the alarm bell a little louder. Chances are we are looking at what will become more the norm than the exception as our planet warms. Did you know that this March is expected to be the hottest on record throughout the western states once all the numbers are in? That has melted lots of snow, and turned what little precipitation we saw turn into rain instead of the frozen white stuff.<\/p>\n
Rain melts snow, you know.<\/p>\n
I hear you asking why it matters whether it falls as snow or rain \u2013 it\u2019s all water, right?<\/p>\n
Yes and no. If you are ready to capture it and have room in your reservoirs, rain is okay. But for most of modern time, the mountain snowpack has been our largest reservoir, with snowmelt providing a steady stream of water when we need it. For the most part, that early melt runs all the way to the ocean without being captured or used.<\/p>\n
As I said, we\u2019re getting better. But not fast enough or big enough.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s bigger than California, too. There\u2019s a crisis on the Colorado River \u2013 there\u2019s been a crisis there for decades, but it\u2019s getting worse \u2013 because seven states and Mexico count on taking water from that river.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve heard of Lake Mead? Lake Powell? The Hoover Dam? Lake Mead and Lake Powell now hold about one-third of the water they were designed for. The Hoover Dam provides electricity for a huge swath of the west, and is now in perpetual danger of not having enough water to turn the generators to make that electricity.<\/p>\n
Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, where the Colorado River water originates, all have record low snowpacks this year. But the seven states and the tribal nations that are part of the Colorado River Compact have failed to agree on how to divvy up the lower flow. All want their \u201centitled share,\u201d even if the total far exceeds what is actually there.<\/p>\n
More lawsuits are in the offing, and the federal government will impose some draconian measures until everything is resolved \u2013 some time in the next century. Get off your pedestals, people, and cut a deal.<\/p>\n
As always, I\u2019ll argue that we have to control what we have control over locally. That means you need to be aware of the situation, and start conserving water wherever you can. We\u2019ve done it before and we can do it again.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t have to be painful. Just do it one step at a time. How about this as a first step \u2013 take a shower with a friend!<\/p>\n
Seriously. Save some water today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Where\u2019s the water? Don\u2019t look now, but we\u2019re in a world of hurt waterwise going into summer 2026.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,8462,8461,131,133,132,137,3738],"class_list":{"0":"post-282477","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-grunion-opinion","10":"tag-grunion-pinch-of-salt","11":"tag-long-beach","12":"tag-long-beach-headlines","13":"tag-long-beach-news","14":"tag-los-angeles-county","15":"tag-the-grunion"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}