Environment

California Drought

California is experiencing the worst drought in its history, and the effects are being felt nationwide. Thus water issues have taken center stage in much of our reporting and the nation's.As the New York Times says, "Water has long been a precious resource in California, the subject of battles pitting farmer against city-dweller and northern communities against southern ones; books and movies have been made about its scarcity and plunder. Water is central to the state’s identity and economy, and a symbol of how wealth and ingenuity have tamed nature ..."As we continue through a fourth year of extreme drought conditions, you'll find all of our reporting on the related issues (and that of NPR and other member stations) in this centralized place.

Study: California Drought Means Less Hydropower, More CO2 Pollution

North State Public Radio | By Ed Joyce

Published February 10, 2016 at 9:40 AM PST

The Oakland, Calif.-based Pacific Institute says reduced hydroelectricity generation, due to the drought in California, has increased costs to electric ratepayers and increased greenhouse gas pollution.

"The four-year drought in California has had harsh economic and environmental impacts," says Peter Gleick, Pacific Institute president and the report’s author.

Gleick says the increase in electricity costs is more than $2.0 billion during the October 2011 - September 2015 severe drought.

During that time period, the additional combustion of fossil fuels for electric generation also led to a 10 percent increase in the release of carbon dioxide from California power plants.

"In a normal water year, when we have full reservoirs, and we get the rain and snow that we expect, hydropower is probably 15-18 percent of our electricity supply," says Gleick. "Last year in 2015 it was down to around 7 percent."

Gleick says it's not just water and electricity users paying the price for reduced hydropower in California.

"The impacts of the California drought - which is the driest and the hottest in 120 years of instrumental records and one of the worst in history - has had widespread impacts on all water users, including farmers, industries, cities, and natural ecosystems," says Gleick. "And in fact, all California ratepayers are affected by the drought as they pay for electricity that is both dirtier and more expensive than in non-drought years."

The report, Impacts of California's Ongoing Drought: Hydroelectricity Generation 2015 Update, does not project 2016 to show much improvement.

"As of early 2016, the drought continues: reservoir levels remain abnormally low, precipitation and especially Sierra Nevada snowpack are marginally above normal, and hydrogeneration is expected to continue to be below average until reservoirs refill.

Thus, we expect costs to California ratepayers and to the environment will continue to mount."

"We're still in a hole, we're still in a big hole," says Gleick. "And unless we get a lot more rain and a lot more snow in the next month and a half or two months, I think we can expect to see hydropower below normal this year as well."

Impacts Of California's Ongoing Drought Hydroelectricity Generation 2015 Update

This story was produced by Capital Public Radio.