California snowpack supply seen lowest in 20 years

“California water officials said on Monday they expect the water level in the Sierra Nevada mountains snowpack this year will be the lowest in almost 20 years, crimping supplies for hydropower and other water uses and raising concern about 2008. The California Department of Water Resources will conduct its fifth and final snowpack survey of the winter season on Tuesday, but new figures point to about 29 percent of normal water content, down from 34 percent at the beginning of April. ‘The figures will be quite low, probably the lowest since 1988,’ said Don Strickland, a spokesman for DWR. That figure was 30 percent. ‘We are suggesting to water agencies that they consider what to do if 2008 is a dry year,’ Jeanine Jones, DWR’s interstate resources manager, said in a conference call with reporters. California depends on the snowpack to generate almost one-fifth of its electricity supplies, help irrigate the biggest agricultural economy in the United States, fill reservoirs, and support recreation on the state’s rivers.”