Last year the Public Policy Institute of California published an interactive map on its website. When you mouse over each hydrologic region of the state, it shows how the population and per capita urban water use in that region has changed since 1960. The map was released in December as part of a report on California Water Myths, which highlights eight common water myths.

Despite a steadily increasing population, most regions of the state began cutting back per-capita water use after (more…)

At lunch on Tuesday I sat with Lynn de Frietas, Executive Director of the Friends of Great Salt Lake, Wayne Martinson, Utah’s Important Bird Area Coordinator for Audubon, Bob Jellison, and Kim Rose. We talked about a proposed potash extraction project threatening Great Salt Lake that would remove 365,000 acre-feet of water, which (more…)

“We must prepare for a change toward dryness” said Wally Broecker in his keynote address Warming Planet, Shifting Rainfall, Lessons from the Past.

Broecker, from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and well-known in the climate science field, was Tuesday’s keynote speaker at the International Symposium on Terminus Lakes. He first visited (more…)

Have you ever wondered how all of those pipes, ditches, and lakes along Highway 395 connect, or how a rain drop that falls on the east side of Mt. Dana might get to Los Angeles? Well, you’re not alone, (more…)

In this dry year Los Angeles has added extra emphasis to its water conservation campaign, including mandatory limitations on outdoor watering. The numbers now show that Los Angeles residents are making big conservation strides: water demand in June dropped 11% over last year, hitting a new 32-year low.

Full story in the Los Angeles Times: Water demand in Los Angeles reaches a 32-year low, DWP says

As a returning Intern, and this year’s Canoe Coordinator for the Mono Lake Committee, I look forward to doing something new every day to help protect and restore this incredible place.  This past Monday was a typical example of the unexpected diversity of tasks I can expect to do every day I come to work. (more…)

National Public Radio ran a story this morning titled “Drought, Politics Trouble Farmers In California“. The water situation in the San Francisco Bay Delta and Central Valley is complicated enough for many a report, but what had Mono Lake veterans talking was the interview quote from Tom Birmingham, current Executive Director of the Westlands Water District and previously the lead attorney fighting against Mono Lake’s protection.

Now we get along fine with Tom but we have to assume he was talking about us when (more…)

Recent storms in California brought a visceral sense of relief to areas looking straight down the barrel of drought. For those who have been planning ahead, it also brought water security in the form of captured rain, in cisterns.

In Los Angeles, where embracing water conservation is an everyday reality, rainwater capture is a critical piece (more…)

I’ve been enjoying the warm, dry weather here in the Mono Basin, however, the outlook for water resources across the state seems much less than a joy to ponder. The morning radio show Forum on KQED out of San Francisco had an interesting discussion about California water–focusing on the prospects of a third year of drought. Guests included Jeff Mount, Paul Kelley, Peter Gleick, and Wendy Martin. A link to the archived show is here: High and Dry: The California Drought.

I went for a long (more…)