[wardengineering]

The drought referred to in the California water news below is not someone’s dream. It is a cool headed look at the future and not an inconvenient truth. The worst is yet to come until about the summer of 2012. Not until after September 2017 will there be any relief in the world wide global warming system and then it will be a short lived period of global cooling to November 2020 returning to global warming until March of 2035. The only history that can give one a clue as to what to expect today happened during the years following about 1057. For example, Macbeth was the king of Scotland killed in battle in 1057 from invading Malcolm succeeding king of Scotland. Seven centuries of carnage followed in England and Scotland. Were these events indicative of our present conditions of unrest throughout the world?

Department of Water Resources
California Water News

Water shortages in California Mounting.

We're starting this water year -- which could be the record year of a drought -- in a hole," Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow said Tuesday at a news conference in Sacramento.

According to the Board of Supervisors' resolution, western Fresno County might receive no more than 45% of its usual water allocation from state and federal facilities. A lack of water will trigger changes in crop patterns and force farmers to leave land empty that might otherwise grow fruits, vegetables or other field crops.

In turn, that means fewer jobs, higher food prices and lagging business. Jose Antonio Ramirez, city manager in Firebaugh, said farmers aren't going to risk planting crops if they don't know how they'll obtain water.

Ramirez and others said farmers also will turn to more ground-water pumping. That could create other problems, such as taxing municipal water supplies in communities dependent on ground water.

The statewide figures released this week paint a gloomy picture of California's water supply. Sierra snowmelt ended early this year, and the state's overall precipitation was 35% to 40% below average, according to the water resources department.

In the San Joaquin River region, the year finished as the eighth-driest year on record, preliminary estimates show. As a result, the state's major reservoirs don't hold nearly the amount of water they normally do at this time of year.