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Most of SLO County is no longer in drought

January 27, 2023

By KAREN VELIE

The extreme weather that pounded San Luis Obispo County brought some good news, the bulk of the county is no longer considered in drought, according to a map published on Thursday by the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Before a series of 12 storms, SLO County was in moderate to extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.  As of Jan. 26, the only portion of the county deemed in moderate drought is a strip along the Kern County border.

California’s snowpack is 250% of normal for this time of year. As the weather warms and the snow melts in the spring and the summer, it will flow into rivers that feed the state’s larger reservoirs further easing remaining drought conditions.

Current SLO County and major state reservoir levels:

  • Santa Margarita Lake at 101.4%, SLO County
  • Lake Nacimiento at 86%, SLO County
  • Lopez Lake at 53.4%, SLO County
  • Whale Rock Reservoir at 89.43%, SLO County
  • Cachuma Lake at 98.3%, Santa Barbara County
  • Oroville Dam 63%, Butte County
  • Trinity Lake at 31%, Trinity County
  • Don Pedro Reservoir at 75%, Mariposa County
  • Shasta Dam at 56%, Shasta County
  • San Luis Reservoir at 57%, Merced County

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Always with “the drought is over” whenever we get a measurable amount of rain. Unless the springs are running 365, and the aquifer is filling,to capacity, we remain in a drought!


2

Good news for now. But we need to get continued average rainfall for the remainder of the winter and Spring. As long as it continues, the ground water basins will be filled, along with all of the reservoirs within our county. As I stated before, next winter they’re calling for a moderate to strong El Nino at this point which usually means above average rainfall for us. Let’s pray that forecast is true.

It’s high time our politicians come up with a better plan to capture some of the water that runs into the ocean during our wet years. There are huge watersheds in our state. Lake Nacimiento is a great example of this. Look how fast it has filled. Cut bureaucracy and work the environment for the better that benefits all. There’s room for all to work together to make this happen. Water is life. The farmer’s, environmentalist, politicians, and each of us need to quickly come to a consensus going forward.


17

So I guess we can expect the lifting of the emergency water restrictions and the fines for not meeting the arbitrary mandatory conservation requirements?


19

You must be great at budgeting! Be broke, get a paycheck, spend like a drunken sailor, be broke, repeat.


-2

BS. For the next two months. Adelaide isnt a water district. Therefore, the wealthy own the water we all need under their feet unregulated pumping for any reason. Firestone brewery uses Salinas water; the drought will be here again in September. The wells are still dry 900ft down. Vineyards are over pumping; the sole problem are vineyards, breweries; business, and 1% of rich house owners. You can’t pump ground water without recharging equal amounts and expect to have a creek, a river, an ecosystem, a lake, a spring. You can’t. At all. No exceptions. We ruined a 10000 year old water table in 75 years more like the last 20 due to politics, wealth, and lobbying, greed and insane trends and alcohol.


Solution; everyone is a journalist in America. Use it, share it. Some gov officials care.


-2

Question. How does your solution save or create more water storage to benefit all?

If government officials cared, they would have addressed this growing problem in California years ago. Their greed for power, control and shallow thinking with environmental emotion is the problem. It’s normal for California to have wet and dry seasons. They have plagued this state for decades at a time and will continue too.

Nothing wrong with building more reservoirs that come with multiple benefits…


16

Democracy works if you work it. If I begun to spout off the things I’ve gotten done, people I’ve spoken and gotten close too, you’d have a change of heart. Knowledge is power, hence they ban and burn books.


-15

I’m unsure about any of your points or your lack of an answer to my question.

Hmmmm?


8