Essential California: Local drought emergencies
Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Thursday, April 22, and I’m writing from Los Angeles.
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“Lake Mendocino is the canary in the coal mine when it comes to California’s drought,” State Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) said Wednesday, standing on a dry lakebed with the brown shores of the more-than-half-empty reservoir in the background. “The alarm is sounding and it couldn’t be louder.”
Under normal conditions for this time of the year, more than 40 feet of water would rise over the lunar-looking section of lakebed where McGuire stood with Gov. Gavin Newsom.
With drought conditions affecting much of the West, California is far from unique in respect to current water issues. But on the heels of a second dry winter, the drought situation is particularly acute in Mendocino and Sonoma counties, because the local water supply is dependent on rainfall in the Russian River watershed.
Located near the headwaters of the Russian River north of Ukiah, Lake Mendocino is one of two major reservoir projects that provide water supply to the Russian River watershed — a region that encompasses nearly 1,500 square miles of forests, agricultural land and cities.
Together with Lake Sonoma, the reservoir helps provide drinking water to about 600,000 customers, according to Grant Davis, general manager of Sonoma Water.
On Wednesday, Newsom declared a drought emergency in Mendocino and Sonoma counties, bucking pressure from some corners to declare a statewide drought emergency.
[Read the story: “Newsom launches effort to deal with drought; emergencies declared in two counties” in the Los Angeles Times]
As my colleague Bettina Boxall reports, the declaration gives state regulators expanded powers to curtail diversions in the parched Russian River watershed and relax river flow standards that would require more releases from the region’s shrinking reservoirs. The document also orders state agencies to work with local districts across California to address drought conditions.
Bettina has written extensively about the vastly different drought conditions across the state. Southern California is likely to be less affected because its water is mostly supplied by big federal and state water systems, rather than local precipitation.
[Read the story: “Drought is back. But Southern California faces less pain than Northern California” in the Los Angeles Times]
“We have to target our solutions regionally,” Newsom said, rejecting a one-size-fits-all approach for the state.
Pressure on Newsom to declare a statewide drought emergency has come in particular from Central Valley Republicans, as Bettina reports. Such a designation would allow state regulators to relax water quality and environmental standards that limit deliveries from the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta, California’s water hub.
And now, here’s what’s happening across California:
California’s coronavirus case rate is now the lowest in the continental U.S., an achievement that reflects months of hard-won progress against the pandemic in the aftermath of the state’s devastating fall-and-winter surge. Los Angeles Times
LAUSD Supt. Austin Beutner will step down when his contract is up June 30: Beutner guided the district through a tumultuous teachers strike and a year of unprecedented coronavirus-forced school closures. Los Angeles Times
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L.A. STORIES
L.A. club owners confront fresh new hell: a crashed government website and puzzling reopening rules. Los Angeles Times
These chiles rellenos sold out of an East L.A. home are “absurdly delicious.” Andrea Serrato sells the queso fresco-filled chiles on Instagram, but she’s also shared a recipe for home cooks. New York Times
USC’s Song Girls project a glamorous ideal, but former members of the Trojans’ prestigious spirit squad describe body shaming and a toxic culture. Each of the 10 women who spoke to The Times said a longtime former coach policed their appearance and scrutinized their public personas in ways that went well beyond traditional dance squad rules. The former coach denies the allegations. Los Angeles Times (This story is a subscriber exclusive.)
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POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT
The Justice Department will investigate Minneapolis police after the Chauvin verdict: Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland announced an investigation that will scrutinize how the department does its job, from recruitment to the possible use of excessive force. Los Angeles Times
The L.A. lawyer formerly known as Doug Emhoff has officially rebranded as Second Gentleman Douglas. “Starting about a week before the inauguration, guidance for Emhoff from the Biden transition and inaugural committee began to adjust his name from Doug to the more ceremonious Douglas.” It remains unclear if his wife, Vice President Kamala Harris, will still occasionally refer to him as “Dougie.” Politico
COPS, CRIME AND COURTS
Graphic footage shows an East Bay cop fatally shooting an unhoused man. Now, the Danville police officer faces charges for another killing. San Francisco Chronicle
CALIFORNIA CULTURE
Despite accounting for more than half of the state’s renters, Latinos are underrepresented among the tens of thousands of Californians applying for rent relief. To close the gap, a state housing agency plans to spend about $4 million to reach underrepresented communities through a statewide public awareness campaign about the program. (Both landlords and tenants can apply at the state’s website here.) Sacramento Bee
[See also: “Need help paying rent? California is accepting rental relief applications” in the Los Angeles Times]
“Nothing’s simple in San Francisco.” He spent $200,000 trying to open a San Francisco ice cream shop but was no match for city bureaucracy. San Francisco Chronicle
A poem to start your Thursday: “I was Trying to Describe You to Someone” by Richard Brautigan. Glass Closet
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CALIFORNIA ALMANAC
Los Angeles: generally gray with recherché hints of blue, 64. San Diego: could rain but there is no certainty, 63. San Francisco: symphonic interludes of sun and clouds, 55. San Jose: partly sunny, 70. Fresno: lavishly sunny, 82. Sacramento: largely sunny, 81.
AND FINALLY
Today’s California memory comes from Lynda Moore:
In the 1950s, my family lived in Daly City, by San Francisco. My father fancied himself an inventor. Because of the public mania with flying saucers, he decided to have a go at building one. It was made out of tin, about seven feet in diameter and had portholes. After an unmanned test flight off a cliff at the beach, it crashed down in the sand and he gave up. But dad’s friend, who owned a gas station on Mission Street, got the brilliant idea to put dad’s saucer up on the roof of the gas station to attract business. One stormy, very windy night dad’s saucer was lifted up off the roof of the gas station and crash-landed right in the middle of Mission Street. Frantic motorists abandoned their cars to call the police insisting that the Martians had landed! Dad’s saucer spent the rest of its days down in our basement, where my sisters and I played Martians and Earthlings, preferably in the dark.
If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. (Please keep your story to 100 words.)
Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints, ideas and unrelated book recommendations to Julia Wick. Follow her on Twitter @Sherlyholmes.
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