Earlier this month an op-ed ran in the LA Times with a headline suggesting that California will run out of water in a year. Valley Public Radio’s Ezra David Romero reports while the record setting drought is bad, we’re not there yet.
The California drought is serious.
State officials are applauding restrictions on watering lawns and legislators have proposed emergency legislation. But the idea that the state will go waterless in a year is far-fetched according to Peter Gleick with the water-focused think-tank the Pacific Institute.
GLEICK: “It’s not that we’re going to run out of water in a year. We’re digging deep, but we’re at the bottom of our reservoir barrel if you will.”
The think-take came out with a report this week saying the drought has caused a shift in energy sources for electricity, from hydroelectricity to natural gas.
The report claims the switch has cost California rate payers $1.4 billion more for electricity than in average years. It also claims the increase has resulted in an 8 percent increase in carbon dioxide and other pollutants between 2011 and 2014.
