16 of the last 28 years have been negative Snow Level Water Equivalents
El Nino doesn’t guarantee Snow Pack
California has a long way to go.
California’s current Snow Water Equivalents by Region – http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/snowapp/sweq.action
Most of us assume if we have more rain, like that which is expected in the upcoming El Nino event, our drought issues will be resolved. The unfortunate reality of the situation is that warm rains do nothing to increase California’s dreadfully low snowpack, which is the unknown key player in maintaining California’s water supply.
The numbers are nothing short of surprising. A weather.com article quantifies some of the impacts on our absurdly low snowpack, which entails that the most recent drought has resulted in 34 billion gallons of water lost when compared to last year’s measurements, and this is for just the Lake Tahoe basin. Based on recent measurements of snowpack levels, there is only enough water to supply California’s needs for another year and a half.
With the pace at which our snowpack is developing (and trust us it is slow), we are going to see a continuous pattern to our drought-related struggles.
Given the tangible urgency, now is the time to further investigate the idea of a Rainwater and / or a Graywater recycling system, which effectively reduces household water usage by up to thirty percent.
A 3,000 square foot surface area will capture 1,869 gallons of rainwater for every inch of rain. Since California’s rain events in populated areas are typically less than an inch per storm, our rainwater capture systems will allow for storage and usage of water in between rainfall.
By: Jay Berstein & Jeff Garrison
