California Whitewater Snowpack Update: Late March
March 23rd, 2009 by MalinaDespite dire predictions from the Capitol building about the state of California’s water resources, we have have some pretty good news to share. And no, we aren’t trying to make lemons out of lemonaid! The reality is that “drought” is a complex situation that factors in several years of precipitation, seasonal run-off, the state of reservoirs, and water use patterns. So when officials say we’re in a drought, they’re referring to several years of data–not just this season.
Thus, we do need to save water, and we do need good leadership on water issues from our officials, but we don’t need to find a new sport this spring or summer–rafting in California is looking just fine. At the moment, AO rafting owner Gregg Armstrong says “We are now at 88% normal water equivalent state wide. Northern California is at 92%, Central at 86%, and Southern at 83%. This is good news! The forecast calls for dry weather for this week and a chance of precipitation next week…very normal pattern for late March/ early April. If the next four weeks are not too hot the season will mirror 2008.” And, as all of you loyal readers know, 2008 was awesome!
The season kicks off in April with challenging class IV and higher trips on the Cal Salmon, and North Fork of the American. If you’re hankering to get out on the river right now, book a trip on the Upper South Fork of the American River–the poppies are gorgeous this year.
March 25th, 2009 at 4:40 am
Save water, so that we have more to raft on!
Fresh water reserve levels for Southern California have dropped significantly over the last few years. If you go to http://www.Bewaterwise.com, you’ll see how far our water reserve levels have gone down since 2006. They have a gauge on the site that looks like the fuel gauge in your car, but with three-color zones: Blue – good, Yellow – not good, and Red – bad. The needle on this gauge is dropping out of the blue zone and heading into the yellow zone.
There are little things that we all can do everyday like fixing a leaky sprinkler, watering our lawns only two days a week, etc which would help save water. The water shortage is not going to improve unless Southern Californians collectively change their actions. Let’s all conserve water!