Worst drought in California history? Not really…

Guest essay by Robert Moore

Is it true that we are in the worst drought in California history? Let’s look at the facts for the last 120 years (1895 to present).

As shown in this chart from the Western Regional Climate Center website (http://www.wrcc.dri.edu) — this is not even the 2nd driest water year for California in the last 120 years.

The driest year was 1924 (9.23 inches, or 40% of normal). The current water year (October 2013 through September 2014) ranks as the 3rd driest in the last 120 years (at 52% of normal).

As for the claim that this is the worst multi-year drought in California history – look at the period of 1910-40 on the WRCC chart. Wow… that was really a dry 30 year period.

Do these facts mean that we are in good shape re California’s water supply? No!

But we shouldn’t be framing the search for a stable California water supply by starting from a wildly incorrect statement that seems focused on creating public panic.

If we begin our search for a solution from reality, it is more likely that we can achieve a realistic long term solution.