The Stream, April 6: California Watershed Holds 40 Percent Less Water

The Global Rundown

Groundwater levels fell to new lows in India’s tech hub while a state in western India opened its largest drinking water pipeline. Airborne instruments see a substantial drop in California’s snowpack, and Apple sees the value of recycled water. Nevada lawmakers might make it rain.

“You’re kind of milking the snow.” — Michael Baughman, executive director of the Humboldt River Basin Water Authority, explaining cloud seeding to Nevada lawmakers. The Legislature, concerned about drought, is considering spending $US 500,000 to restart a grant program for artificially inducing precipitation. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

By The Numbers

40 percent: Decrease compared to 2014 in water stored in the snowpack of the Tuolumne River Basin, California’s most accurately measured mountain watershed thanks to a host of instruments packed into an airplane laboratory. NASA

5,587: Number of villages that will be served by the Swarnim Gujarat pipeline, the largest drinking water conduit in Gujarat, a state in western India. The pipeline was inaugurated on April 5. Desh Gujarat

Science, Studies, And Reports

Groundwater levels in Hyderabad, one of India’s technology sector hubs, fell nearly 3 meters (9 feet) on average over the last year, setting a new low. Some districts recorded a decline three times greater than the average. New Indian Express

Climate change will wallop California, according to a report from a group of financial and political elites who are interested in the economic consequences of rising greenhouse gas emission. California workers will be less productive, its farm industry faces wilting heat and water scarcity, its electrical grid will be strained by demand for air conditioning and a decline in hydropower output, and at least $US 8 billion worth of coastal property will be engulfed by the sea by 2050. Risky Business

On The Radar

Apple sees the value in reuse. The new Cupertino, California campus for the world’s most valuable tech company will be supplied with recycled water via a $US 17.5 million pipeline, which will also serve neighboring cities. Apple is paying for more than a quarter of the project, which begins construction in August. San Jose Mercury News

Brett Walton

Brett writes about agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and the politics and economics of water in the United States. He also writes the Federal Water Tap, Circle of Blue’s weekly digest of U.S. government water news. He is the winner of two Society of Environmental Journalists reporting awards, one of the top honors in American environmental journalism: first place for explanatory reporting for a series on septic system pollution in the United States(2016) and third place for beat reporting in a small market (2014). He received the Sierra Club’s Distinguished Service Award in 2018. Brett lives in Seattle, where he hikes the mountains and bakes pies. Contact Brett Walton