From Nevada County Supervisor:
California Governor Jerry Brown and Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval signed emergency State Senate bills last week to help ease water shortages due to the record-breaking droughts in their respective states. The approved bills state that after Labor Day the Truckee River Dam (Lake Tahoe’s only outlet) will release nearly 10 times the normal water volume out of Lake Tahoe until the states’ reservoir waters return back to normal levels. Two-thirds of that Lake Tahoe water will funnel towards the Central Valley and Southern California and the rest will flow to Reno and Pyramid Lake in Nevada.
California and Nevada have been hit the hardest of any states in this years drought. Nearly 40% of the state of Nevada is in extreme drought this summer and California has the nation’s worst drought with 76% of the state experiencing extreme drought. Governor Brown declared a state of emergency earlier this year. The shortage of potable water has been so severe that California is now investing in long-term solutions, such as desalination plants. A facility that is scheduled to be the largest in the Western hemisphere is now under construction in Southern California, and another desalination facility is under consideration in Orange County.
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