Record March heat across U.S. signals new pressure on Malibu water
With Sierra snowpack at 18 percent of normal and Colorado reservoirs near empty, desalination projects off the Malibu coast are gaining momentum.
The western two thirds of the entire United States set record temperatures in March. Daily high temperature records were set in all 48 states.
University of California weather scientist Daniel Swain has a map with pinpoints all across the country, points showing record temperatures across a third of the month.
What does this mean for Malibu?
Our local water supply comes from three major sources: recycled water from L.A., water imported from the Colorado River, and water from the Sierra Nevada and northern California.
There is practically no storage of water in the Sierra snowpack, which is only 18 percent of normal. There is practically no storage of water in the giant dams along the Colorado River — Lake Powell and Lake Mead are almost at minimum storage. Recycled sewage from L.A. is a reliable source, but it is not enough to satisfy the needs of the entire Southland.
One major impact on Malibu will be pressure to approve desalination projects along the Malibu coast. Two companies are currently pressing ahead with desalination projects proposed for under the ocean, both with pipelines and undersea power lines coming ashore in Malibu.
And thirsty governments in drought-stricken inland areas like Nevada and Arizona are looking at funding similar ocean desalination plants — to distribute the cleaned ocean water near the beaches and divert California-bound water out of the Colorado River.