California Drought Watch

California groundwater plan called “management lite”

Audio transcript, Sept. 15, 2014: Richard Frank, UC Davis environmetal law professor

The legislation is a very measured, very modest first step to bring some sort of order out of the disorder of groundwater use, which just about everyone at least in their most candid moments acknowledges that the current system is ad hoc and just doesn’t work at a time of increased drought.  And if you believe climate scientists at the University of California and elsewhere, what we’re seeing in terms of the drought is likely the new normal.

Audio transcript, Sept. 15, 2014: Richard Frank, UC Davis environmetal law professor

The single greatest deficiency of the bills as I see it, is that a logical and obvious first step to require monitoring of groundwater extractions from our groundwater basins, particularly those that are currently in overdraft is not required.  I can’t for the life of me understand how you can come up with a meaningful system of establishing sustainable groundwater basin management if you don’t have that fundamental data of who’s extracting how much in over what period of time.

Audio transcript, Sept. 15, 2014: Richard Frank, UC Davis environmetal law professor

There is no water cop on the beat currently with respect to groundwater management.  And under this legislation, it basically gives everyone a lengthy period of time to make it up and running, as much as 20- 25 years.

Audio transcript, Sept. 15, 2014: Richard Frank, UC Davis environmetal law professor

I tell my students that in terms of future careers, three areas that are growth areas for new and newly minted lawyers are:  water, energy, particularly alternative energy, and climate change.  And all of those issues are interrelated really.

Will California’s drought extend into 2015?

Audio transcript, June 17, 2014:  Jay Lund, director UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

Well, a dry year doesn’t always mean another dry year, but it’s more likely to.

When we looked at the state Department of Water Resources statistics, they have a classification ranging from critically dry, which is what we’re in this year, and all the way to wet.

And what we found looking at the statistics of the 106 years of records is that if you’re in a critically dry year this year, then it more than doubles the chance that the next year will be critically dry.

So instead of having about a 13 percent chance, which would be normal that a particular year will be critically dry, it’s 29, almost a 30 percent chance next year will be critically dry by using their statistics.

Water bonds can't do it alone

Audio transcript, June 6, 2014:  Jay Lund, director UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

I think in conjunction with the bonds, we should have some more permanent financial activities that address some of the areas that we’ve identified over time at both UC Davis and PPIC - Public Policy Institute of California, some very important areas of water management that are essentially, structurally underfunded. 

I’m thinking particularly on the ecosystem side, storm water side, storm water management side, and several other areas like that. 

Flood control, water supply for poor rural communities.  These are all areas we structurally underfund. 

We’ve been using bonds from some degree to creep along on these areas, but I think it would be far better for us all to resolve the financial problems in these areas directly.

El Niño won't end drought nor ease fire risk

Audio transcript, July 24, 2014:  Jay Lund, director UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

Oh sure, if we’re lucky enough and it turns out to be wet in the fall and winter, it’ll go a long way, but we are starting with pretty depleted aquifers and very depleted reservoirs, so I guess the bottom line is we should be prepared for another dry year.

Audio transcript, July 24, 2014:  Mark Schwartz, director of the UC Davis John Muir Institue of Environmental Studies

Well certainly it builds up groundwater recharge and helps stressed plants, however  inasmuch as we’ve had this protracted period of time when we’ve had several short droughts, it really may require a protracted period of several El Niño’s in  a row or several wet years in a row to really make a difference.

Audio transcript, July 24, 2014:  Mark Schwartz, director of the UC Davis John Muir Institue of Environmental Studies

This year we had a very dry, early winter and then some late season precipitation, which gave some of that vegetation an opportunity to grow and now it’s dried down because it wasn’t very wet and we’re going to have a very long potential fire season.  That window opened up very early, we had earlier fires than we usually do.

Audio transcript, July 24, 2014:  Jay Lund, director UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

In Southern California you tend to have a significant correlation between big El Niño’s and having floods during wet years in Southern California, but up here in Northern California where most of the water in California falls, there is very  little correlation between El Niño and the runoff in the rivers.

Drought and humans combine for dangerous fire season

Audio transcript, August 8, 2014:  Mark Schwartz, director of the UC Davis John Muir Institue of Environmental Studies

Fire is really a function of three things.  One is the function of fuels that are out there, another is the weather, and the third is ignitions.  With more and more people in California, and more people out in that wild and urban interface, we have increased probability of having ignitions.  And as we saw down in San Diego, there were many ignitions in a period when there were high winds and high temperatures, and as a consequence some very severe fires.

Audio transcript, August 8, 2014:  Mark Schwartz, director of the UC Davis John Muir Institue of Environmental Studies

We’ve had a century or so of fire suppression, which in many areas has resulted in high fuel loads with lots of standing dead material.  We have had in the Sierra Nevada in particular and some places in the Coast Range, we’ve had plant disease which has increased tree mortality and left standing dead fuels which then are prone to burn.  Then, where drought comes into play is that when we have this early dry season we have a lot longer window of opportunity for those fires to occur.  And that’s the situation we’re in now.  It’s a hard set of conditions, and that means we end up having some relatively large fires.

How to avoid runoff from lawns during drought

Audio transcript, August11, 2014:  Dr. Loren Oki, UC Cooperative Extension landscape horticulture specialist at UC Davis on avoiding lawn runoff

Most typical irrigation systems put on water faster than the soil can absorb it. So, just think about that. If the soil can’t absorb it, then the excess is going to go into the gutter. So what you have to do is to slow down that precipitation rate, either by improving the system or by putting in a different sprinkler system. The typical sprinkler systems are fan sprays, they put on water pretty fast. The newer spray heads are the rotary streams: mp rotator for example for Hunter, or Rainbird, Toro…they all have these new systems and they put on water slower and more closely to how fast soil can absorb the water. The other thing you can do is pulse the system. Put it on for a few minutes, wait 30 to 60 minutes, put another few minutes on and you can avoid runoff that way.

The hunt for Red Hills roach

Audio transcript, August18, 2014:  UC Davis fish biologist Peter Moyle describes the Red Hills roach fish

It’s a minnow; I don’t think we’ve ever seen a Red Hills roach that’s longer than three and a half inches, maybe four inches long, so it’s very small.  They’re sort of bronzy colored, with a sort of yellowish belly.  They’re a little bit flattened because they live in this very shallow, extreme environment.  They’re very skittish, because predators would have an easy finding them.  When they breed in the spring, they get bright orange on the fins.  That’s when they really become very attractive little fish for about two or three weeks. 

Audio transcript, August18, 2014:  UC Davis fish biologist Peter Moyle says Red Hills roach live in shallow water

Most of the streams we’ve looked at in the past, the deepest part would have been maybe two feet deep.  They especially like places where the pools are associated with rocky ledges, so the water stays better under these rocks, and usually the best pools also will have accumulated enough sediment so you’ll have cattails or some other type of vegetation growing along the edges so they have some protection.  But it’s really a harsh environment.  It’s really a difficult place for a fish to live.

Audio transcript, August18, 2014:  UC Davis fish biologist Peter Moyle says drought has made it hard for Red Hills roach 

Six-bit Gulch now empties into new Don Pedro Reservoir.  Historically Six-bit Gulch would have had water going down to it several miles more than it has today, so now the amount of habitat available to the roach is already restricted, and probably the wetter habitat, the more dependable habitat was actually downstream.  So, it’s this combination of the drought which made conditions more severe upstream, and we’ve lost downstream habitat.

Crush gets off to an early start amid drought concerns

Audio transcript, August 22, 2014:  UC Davis winery manager Chik Brennahan says vinyards are showing signs of water stress

Reddening of the leaves, desiccation, the soil is very, very hard.  We’re going to be looking on the campus vineyards at ways to try to loosen up the soil.  If the drought continues, it’s going to be tough for growers.

Audio transcript, August 22, 2014:  UC Davis winery manager Chik Brennahan says it takes a lot of water to makes wine

Within the industry and it’s pretty much the industry standard, it takes five volumes of water to make one volume of wine.  That can become a significant impact.  Here, we’re a 1,000 ton winery, but think of some of the larger wineries in California that are doing hundreds of thousands of tons there and so the volumes of water being used in those wineries.  That’s why it’s important that the industry look at innovative water capture, innovative water use, and recycling.

UC Davis winery stingy on water

Audio transcript, August 22, 2014:  UC Davis winery manager Chik Brennahan says they reuse rainwater

Most of the rainwater that we’re doing here is used for landscaping and for flushing toilets. However going forward with the new Jackson building, we’re actually looking at capturing more water, cleaning the water up, and using that water as process water, then capturing the processed water and the waste stream, and being able to use that again. (So kind of a grey water system?) No, actually making that water potable.

Keeping yard trees healthy during drought

Audio transcript, August 26, 2014:  Dr. Loren Oki, UC Cooperative Extension landscape horticulture specialist at UC Davis on proper tree watering

The reduction in water and irrigation has to happen slowly, we have to start driving the water deeper to get those tree roots down.  Most trees can handle a deep irrigation once every two to four weeks.

Audio transcript, August 26, 2014:  Dr. Loren Oki, UC Cooperative Extension landscape horticulture specialist at UC Davis on proper tree watering

Putting the water on slowly, getting that water deeply in a few spots underneath the tree canopy, not right up against the trunk, but near the edge of the tree canopy is the proper way to do it.

UC Davis scientists shape California water policy

Audio transcript, September 12, 2014:  Richard Frank, UC Davis environmental law professor

I think the University of California plays a particularly significant role in trying to help shape and inform and influence public policy when it comes to water because there are so many interests that are really dug in and ideological, from hard-core environmentalists to farmers to municipal water agencies, and I've been pleasantly surprised that decision makers whether it’s in the legislature or in the executive branch of government or even in the courts, seem to place a special confidence and faith in the University and in academics in general who do not come with an agenda or clients or a bias to provide the kind of objective information on which informed water decisions can be made. And I think we've seen that including with respect to the just enacted legislation over groundwater. We have a number of academics from a variety of fields here at the University of California and UC Davis who have actively, and I think very effectively participated in that public policy process. So I think that’s a very good and welcome development. It’s not limited to UC or UC Davis certainly. The Public Policy Institute of California, other non-profits, the California Water Foundation have provided an equality objective and influential role in the fashioning and developing of California water policy. And I hope and expect through efforts like the one that UC Davis is leading in terms of its drought strategy and its drought work will continue that important tradition.