Drought conditions worsen in California
By Caitlin Owens, Los Angeles Times
California’s drought conditions have worsened over the past week with the percentage of the state suffering from the highest category increasing, the National Weather Service said Thursday.
“Exceptional” drought conditions have spread in Central California since a week ago, weather officials said. Areas in Northern California have also moved into this category since last week, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Almost 33 percent of the state faces exceptional conditions. About 25 percent of the state faced those conditions last week.
Every part of California remains in what is considered severe drought.
A year ago, no part of the state was in exceptional drought conditions, the weather service said.
Drought conditions worsen. Look into the turf buy back program from STPUD. It’s all about water conservation!
There’s a waiting list right now to have your lawn inspected before you remove and replace lawn with native plants which use much less water.
Upon completion, you get paid $1.50 a square foot to get rid of the water wasting lawn and plant wildflowers and or vegetables.
Can the city jump on board with this? The lawn along the Linear park and Campground by the Lake look great! Maybe the old switcheroo? Pull up the grass there and use it to re-grass the detiriorated LTCC fake grass ffield. Then in its place along the Hwy 50 corridor, plant some hardy native plants. Columbine, Lupine, wild berries, manzanita… they all last a REAL long time and are low maintanence using less water.
Set by example!!! We can do this So. Lake Tahoe!!! OLS
OLS turf saves homes from wildfire. We are not in a drought in Tahoe. We are however in a high fire hazard year.
Moral Hazard, Maybe we’re not in a drought. I didn’t see much snow this winter going from as far back as I can remember, so that equates to very little run off from melting snow. That means much less water leaving the “Hill” causing major problems for those down stream. High fire danger is a real concern this summer.
It just seems common sense to me to try and conserve water in a dry year. I have seen folks watering their lawns so heavily that the water is running down the street. That’s why I brought up water conservation.
in my mind, every drop counts.
I know, sounds crazy to some that living next to a big beautiful lake we need to watch our water use.
But remember, it all flows downhill and that’s where they grow the food! Watch your water use. OLS
OLS, snowfall would be relevant in Tahoe if you melted snow for water. Instead you get your water from wells. The wells are hooked up to the Lake through subsurface aquifers.
Hence, no drought. STPUD wants you to put your home at risk of fire so that they can show a decrease in use and that is tied to grants that they apply for.
It has nothing…absolutely nothing to do with the quantity of water available here.