Thousands of California farmers cut off from river water as drought intensifies . . .

[Journeyman]

California regulators moved to cut off thousands of farmers from their main irrigation supplies Tuesday, voting to ban them from pulling water from the state’s main rivers and streams as the drought worsens.

The State Water Resources Control Board, following hours of debate and comment, voted 5-0 to issue “emergency curtailment” orders covering the rivers of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed — essentially the entire Central Valley.

It’s the most dramatic step taken to date by state regulators since the drought was officially declared in most of California’s counties — and surpasses any of the moves made during the previous drought.

“This is a terrible situation that we’re all in,” said board member Sean Maguire.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/water-and-drought/article253221993.html

And we're not even half a summer since the drought was declared. This act surpasses what was mandated after more than six years of drought last time, including the four driest years in California history (2011-2014).

(emphasis added)

[Hugh_Lebowski]

1. Was there really a 'previous drought' though?

Seems to me there's been like 1 really good year for rain in the past 10 or so.

So it's kinda all one long drought with a brief respite.

[Journeyman]

2. As I explain to my clients, we entered a period of permanent drought back in the '70s . . .

Too many people chasing too little water.

We need to implement permanent regulations, thoughtful approaches that call for sacrifice in the cities and more efficient usage in the fields. And the effort has to be continuous, for as you point out the periods of respite are too short and too quickly lost. What was it, only four years ago Oro Dam was so full it was feared it would collapse. Now it's a rapidly shrinking mud hole.

[quaint]

3. Current Reservoir Conditions

Selected Water Supply Reservoirs