California's current drought is
being billed as the driest period in the state's recorded rainfall history. But
scientists who study the West's long-term climate patterns say the state has
been parched for much longer stretches before that 163-year historical period
began. And they worry that the "megadroughts" typical of California's
earlier history could come again.
Through studies of tree rings,
sediment and other natural evidence, researchers have documented multiple
droughts in California that lasted 10 or 20 years in a row during the past
1,000 years -- compared to the mere three-year duration of the current dry
spell. The two most severe megadroughts make the Dust Bowl of the 1930s look
tame: a 240-year-long drought that started in 850 and, 50 years after the
conclusion of that one, another that stretched at least 180 years.
"We continue to run California
as if the longest drought we are ever going to encounter is about seven
years," said Scott Stine, a professor of geography and environmental
studies at Cal State East Bay. "We're living in a dream world."
California in 2013 received less
rain than in any year since it became a state in 1850. And at least one Bay
Area scientist says that based on tree ring data, the current rainfall season
is on pace to be the driest since 1580 -- more than 150 years before George
Washington was born. The question is: How much longer will it last?
California, the nation's most
populous state with 38 million residents, has built a massive economy, Silicon
Valley, Hollywood and millions of acres of farmland, all in a semiarid area. The
state's dams, canals and reservoirs have never been tested by the kind of
prolonged drought that experts say will almost certainly occur again.
Stine, who has spent decades
studying tree stumps in Mono Lake, Tenaya Lake, the Walker River and other
parts of the Sierra Nevada, said that the past century has been among the
wettest of the last 7,000 years. Looking back, the long-term record also shows
some staggeringly wet periods. The decades between the two medieval
megadroughts, for example, delivered years of above-normal rainfall -- the kind
that would cause devastating floods today. The longest droughts of the 20th
century, what Californians think of as severe, occurred from 1987 to 1992 and
from 1928 to 1934. Both, Stine said, are minor compared to the ancient droughts
of 850 to 1090 and 1140 to 1320.
What would happen if the current
drought continued for another 10 years or more? Without question, longtime
water experts say, farmers would bear the brunt. Cities would suffer but adapt.
The reason: Although many Californians think that population growth is the main
driver of water demand statewide, it actually is agriculture. In an average
year, farmers use 80 percent of the water consumed by people and businesses --
34 million of 43 million acre-feet diverted from rivers, lakes and groundwater,
according to the state Department of Water Resources.
"Cities would be
inconvenienced greatly and suffer some. Smaller cities would get it worse, but
farmers would take the biggest hit," said Maurice Roos, the department's
chief hydrologist. "Cities can always afford to spend a lot of money to
buy what water is left." . . . Farmers would fallow millions of acres,
letting row crops die first. They'd pump massive amounts of groundwater to keep
orchards alive, but eventually those wells would go dry. And although deeper
wells could be dug, the costs could exceed the value of their crops. Banks
would refuse to loan the farmers money. . . . In urban areas, most cities would
eventually see water rationing at 50 percent of current levels. Golf courses
would shut down. Cities would pass laws banning watering or installing lawns,
which use half of most homes' water. Across the state, rivers and streams would
dry up, wiping out salmon runs. . . .
If a drought lasted decades, the
state could always build dozens of desalination plants, which would cost
billions of dollars, said law professor Barton "Buzz" Thompson,
co-director of Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment. Saudi
Arabia, Israel and other Middle Eastern countries depend on desalination, but
water from desal plants costs roughly five times more than urban Californians
pay for water now. Thompson said that makes desal projects unfeasible for most
of the state now, especially when other options like recycled wastewater and
conservation can provide more water at a much lower cost. But in an emergency,
price becomes no object.
"In theory, cities cannot run
out of water," Thompson said. "All we can do is run out of cheap
water, or not have as much water as we need when we really want it." Over
the past 10 years, he noted, Australia has been coping with a severe drought.
Urban residents there cut their water demand massively, built new supply
projects and survived. "I don't think we'll ever get to a point here where
you turn on the tap and air comes out," he said. . . .
* * *
Paul Rogers, “California drought: Past dry periods have lasted more than 200 years, scientists say,” San Jose Mercury News, Jan. 25, 2014
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