Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
alone, lightning strikes sparked 1,400 wildi res in Northern and Central
California forests.
In Central California, the dry year meant record low freshwater l ows to
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay, with cascading
impacts on aquatic ecosystems. Water quality declined throughout the delta,
where water is pumped and transported to Southern California, providing
drinking water for twenty million Californians. With lower river l ows,
seawater penetrated upstream far into the delta, causing chloride concentra-
tions to quadruple. In an ef ort to prevent this, water engineers released as
much freshwater from the meager reser voir supplies upstream as possible and
constructed temporary barriers in the delta. Nevertheless, severely reduced
freshwater inl ow raised the water salinity in the San Francisco Bay to record
high levels, leading to a dramatic decline in the bay's phytoplankton, the
base of the estuarine food chain. Fish populations in the estuary crashed
as their primary food sources disappeared. In both the bay and the delta,
decreased freshwater l ows also increased the concentrations of pollutants,
including pesticides drained from farm irrigation i elds in the Central Valley.
h e ef ects of that extreme year spread like tentacles of pain deep into the
ecosystems of the West.
California's economy also suf ered that year: in the Sierra Nevada, the
sparse snowfall had severe impacts on the business of winter sports and
the tourism industry. Ski resorts in Northern and Central California were
particularly hard-hit. Some of these resorts never opened, and those that
did were forced to close within a very short period. h e summer recreation
economy also suf ered, since resorts on the state's rivers and reservoirs were
af ected by low water levels and forest closures. Many of those resorts closed,
some declaring bankruptcy, as shorelines receded, rivers dried up, and
boat launches and docks were let high and dry. Fishing, rat ing, and other
river activities were not possible as l ows diminished to a trickle during the
summer and fall of 1977.
Forty-seven of California's i t y-eight counties declared a state of emer-
gency, and severe water restrictions and mandatory rationing were imposed.
In Southern California, the Metropolitan Water District was forced to
increase imports from the Colorado River to near capacity. h at summer,
the Colorado River aqueduct supplied 85 percent of the water delivered to
Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Diego counties.
So desperate was the situation that the state considered increasingly
far-fetched and elaborate schemes for getting more water, including
