Posts Tagged: potable

Desalination: Should California use the ocean to quench its thirst?

A beach in Carlsbad, San Diego County, which has the nation's largest desalination plant. (Photo: Sherry V Smith, via Shutterstock)

by AARON GILBREATH posted 07.12.2022

Here we are again: California is enduring another punishing drought, this one only a few years after the last one ended, which was the most severe drought in the state’s nearly 500 years of recorded history. Low winter snowpack combined with scorching summer temperatures and the driest winter months in 100 years have severely impacted the state’s water supply. Lake Oroville, an important reservoir in Butte County, had sunk to 49% of capacity by July 1

Brown orders historic water cuts

Frank Gehrke, left, the state's chief snow surveyor, and Gov. Jerry Brown at Echo Summit in the Sierra Nevada. Brown announced his executive order minutes later.(Photo: AP/Rich Pedroncelli)

by JOHN HOWARD posted 04.01.2015

Gov. Jerry Brown, standing in bright sunshine in a dry Sierra Nevada field usually deep in snow, ordered unprecedented measures across California to deal with the state’s historic drought, including 25 percent cuts for residents and businesses. The governor issued an executive order making the reductions mandatory. “As Californians, we must pull together and save water in every way possible,” Brown said.