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Corona Department of Water & Power
"Protecting Public Health"
Reasons for California's Drought and Recent Lawsuit Filed
California's drought has been years in the making. It is the culmination of a variety of factors that affect California's water supply, including:
- The Colorado River, a major source of imported water for California, has experienced drought conditions for eight of the last nine years.
- In December 2007, a federal judge ruled that increased pumping of water from the Sacramento Delta endangers the Delta Smelt, and ordered pumping restrictions that reduced the amount of water available from the Sacramento Delta.
- Reduced statewide rainfall in 2007 and 2008.
- Increases in population - over 9 million new residents have been added to California since 1991.
- Reduced snowpack levels in the Sierras.
- Statewide reservoir levels at historic lows, including Lake Oroville, Shasta Lake, Folsom Lake and the San Luis Reservoir.
- On June 4, 2009 the National Marine Fisheries Service issues a biological opinion which may reduce delta pumping to protect salmon, steelhead and other species of wildlife. This may result in further restrictions of water pumping.
All of the above reasons have resulted in Governor's Schwarzenegger's proclamation of a state of emergency due to water shortage on February 27, 2009. And even if California experiences a winter of heavy precipitation, many of the above issues will remain.
The following information has been provided to residents in order to help explain California's current drought situation, and actions that are being taken to deal with the drought.
Sacramento Delta Lawsuit Filed
On June 29, 2009 the Pacific Legal Foundation launched an emergency "Save our Water" petition campaign, and urged President Barack Obama and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to act to convene a special federal panel to address California's water emergency caused by harsh federal environmental restrictions.
In addition, the Pacific Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit against the United States Bureau of Reclamation and the California Department of Water Resources in the Eastern District of California on behalf of several farms that claims that these government agencies have misused the Endangered Species Act and arbitrarily imposed restrictions on federal Central Valley Project and California State Water Project water pumping operations. Click here for a copy of the Pacific Legal Foundation claim.
For more background and information on California's drought, click on the links below:
The links provided on this page are intended for informational purposes only, and do not necessarily reflect the City of Corona's views.
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