Sierra Nevada water

[saltysack]

The attached article has me thinking about water during a sept JMT thu hike....should I be concerned or should there be adequate water? Usually only carry 1-2 liter....


'New era' for California water conservation
By Fenit Nirappil & Gillian Flaccus
02 Apr 2015, 06:17 PM

TUSTIN, CALIF. | Gary Whitlock watched water run to a sidewalk as gardeners hosed down a bed of marigolds outside an Orange County office building and questioned whether California’s latest attempt to curb water use would be any more successful than previous efforts in the drought-stricken state.

“You see people that just run water all the time, people that are watering their lawns, parks that are not using recycled water,” Whitlock said. “This has been going on for years, and everybody that I talk to says, ‘Oh, well, you know, it’s going to rain, El Nino’s coming.’ ”

Whitlock’s observation came after Gov. Jerry Brown ordered sweeping, unprecedented measures on Wednesday to save water in California as he stood in a brown meadow that’s normally blanketed in snow.

Surveyors that day found the lowest water level in the Sierra Nevada snowpack in 65 years of record-keeping, signaling the fourth consecutive year of vanishing snow that California depends on to melt into rivers and replenish reservoirs.

“We’re in a new era; the idea of your nice little green grass getting water every day, that’s going to be a thing of the past,” Brown said.

The governor’s order requires cities and towns to cut water use by 25 percent. So far in the current drought, many Californians have not made changes to their daily routines to save water or taken a hit in their wallets because of it.

Early last year, Brown called for a 20 percent voluntary cutback, but the state achieved just half of that.

In recent years, cities have developed storage capacity and supplies to soften the blow of future dry years — a move that has insulated residents from the severity of the current drought.

In 1977, Brown asked for a voluntary 25 percent cut in water use during his first term as governor.

Nearly 40 years later, he warns that drought might be the new normal as he ramps up efforts to adapt. His executive order on Wednesday directed officials to impose statewide mandatory water restrictions and expand programs intended to reshape how Californians use water.

Cemeteries, golf courses and business headquarters must significantly cut back on watering the large landscapes. Local governments will tear out 50 million square feet of lawns and instead use drought-tolerant plants. And customers will get money for replacing old water-sucking appliances with efficient ones under a temporary rebate program.

The initiatives are part of the goal to reduce water use by 25 percent compared to levels in 2013 — the year before Brown declared a drought emergency.

The order also directs local agencies to charge extra for high water use.

Water officials vowed to crack down on waste and illegal water diversion, acknowledging there has been spotty enforcement of existing rules limiting outdoor water use.

The order also prohibits new homes and developments from using drinkable water for irrigation if the structures lack water-efficient drip systems. In addition, the watering of decorative grasses on public street medians is banned.

“We have to pull together and save water in every way we can,” Brown said.

Critics of the Democratic governor said his order does not go far enough to address agriculture — the state’s biggest water user.

The order contains no water reduction target for farmers. Instead, it requires many agricultural water suppliers to submit detailed drought management plans that include how much water they have and what they’re doing to scale back.

After a drought in the previous decade, state officials acknowledged that some suppliers did not submit similar required plans. Mark Cowin, director of the Department of Water Resources, said the state will provide money to make sure the plans are written and might penalize those who do not comply.

The state is not aiming to go after water-guzzling crops such as almonds and rice the same way Brown has condemned lawns.

Dave Kranz, a spokesman for the California Farm Bureau Federation, said farmers have already suffered deep cutbacks in water supply during the current drought. Farmers have let hundreds of thousands of acres go fallow and laid off thousands of workers as the state and federal government slashed water deliveries from reservoirs.

Officials said Wednesday the statewide snowpack is equivalent to 5 percent of the historical average for April 1 and the lowest for that date since the state began record-keeping in 1950.

“It is such an unprecedented lack of snow, it is way, way below records,” said Frank Gehrke, chief of snow surveys for the California Department of Water Resources.


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[saltysack]

Forgot.....mid September


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[Lyle]

Last summer I hiked the northern portion from HI to Bishop at the end of August, into September. While we heard horror stories about lack of water between Little Yosemite and Cathedral Lake, something like 18 miles - no water, that was not the case at all. There was plenty of water, sunrise creek was flowing, Sunrise High Sierra Camp didn't bat an eye at allowing us to fill our water at their pump. Once you are past Cathedral Lake, water was quite plentiful, since you depended mostly on larger rivers or lakes for water. I'm heading back to hike from Horseshoe Meadow to Bishop this coming August into September and I do not anticipate any problems, since we will be relying mostly on lakes for our water sources. If I were doing the northern portion again this year, I would probably carry more than I normally would, but I wouldn't be overly worried, based on my experience last year. Perhaps some water sources will be low, or dry, but there are quite a few options, especially once you are south of Cathedral Lakes.

[Coffee]

In late August 2013 (a dry year) the ranger at Little Yosemite Valley told me to get water from the Merced and to not expect any water until Sunrise High Sierra camp. But there was water in Sunrise Creek. Heard that the same was true last year. Now this year may indeed be a different ballgame with the extreme drought but worst case, carry water from the Merced to get to Cathedral Lake. Send a resupply to Tuolumne so you have minimal food weight to compensate for the heavy water load on the climb out of Little Yosemite Valley. I think that the longest dry stretch is 6 miles or so for the rest of the trail. I doubt the natural high mountain lakes dry up.

[Traveler]

September is a very dry time of year in CA. The snow pack at Tahoe was 0" on 4/1. The math suggests water sources may be problematic and you should probably plan on having to carry extra water. Adding to that problem is the dissuasion program the PCTA and other groups are engaging to limit if not remove water caching. There are laws against storing or stashing stuff on public lands (imagine what these lands would look like without them), some cache sites are being removed as they are found. If you are going to stash water, be sure its in a legal place or private land with permission.

[MuddyWaters]

Yosemite rangers will not tell you that you will be able to find water in low sources. They can vary day to day, and they arent going to be liable. They will tell you not to plan on finding water.

Sunrise creek was dry at LYV last summer when i was there, but was trickling a few miles upstream. I left LYV with 3 L just in case, dumped most of it as soon as i found creek flowing.

Couple of days before i was there, yosemite falls had dried up. After a rainstorm or two it was flowing good again.

Just because no snow, doesnt mean no rain. I was rained on about 5 days.

Also first week of August, high sierra got dump of snow. Whitney reportedly had about 2'. Forced some off the trail.

[Malto]

I would not count on Sunrise creek, I have seen it dry in previous years during late season. I would also be very careful treating water from the Merced because you have quite a bit of activity upstream.

the other major dry area will be bear ridge. If memory serves me I don't recall at all on that ridge. Not major miles but given your question I would plan for that being dry.

[colorado_rob]

I would not count on Sunrise creek, I have seen it dry in previous years during late season. .

Bone dry when we passed it in late September (going NOBO), pretty long stretch w/o water, but this was the only stretch, basically Cathedral lake to near the Half Dome trail cutoff. Yeah, we got thirsty, but so what.

[Coffee]

Hikers coming the opposite direction are often a better source of information than the rangers who are very, very conservative when giving advice on water, which from their perspective is reasonable. However, hiking up from Little Yosemite Valley, most of the people coming down are coming from Half Dome and they don't have any water info for the JMT. But asking hikers works pretty well for the rest of the JMT. I suspect it would work even better heading northbound during peak hiker season since there are so many southbound JMT hikers.

[saltysack]

Being a first time to the Sierras is the ETB trail guide sufficient? Does it list most water sources. I usually carry 1-2 -1 liter smart water bottles...this sound sufficient?...I'll also have 2-2liter sawyer squeeze bags so could camel up if need be....


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[colorado_rob]

Being a first time to the Sierras is the ETB trail guide sufficient? Does it list most water sources. I usually carry 1-2 -1 liter smart water bottles...this sound sufficient?...I'll also have 2-2liter sawyer squeeze bags so could camel up if need be....


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Exactly what we did in that dry section: two 1L bottles each, plus I filled my 2L Sawyer squeeze with another 1.5 or so, about 5.5L total, got two of us through the dry spot with being merely a bit thirsty.

[Lyle]

Last year I carried Erik the Black's guide as well as the Tom Harrison Map set. It was nice having both, and both were used. This coming summer, I will probably only carry the new ETB guide. The maps have been expanded to include most of the alternate and escape trails. Plenty of information about water/campsites, etc. Between the two of us, we carried portions of the Wenk guide as well. This guide gives some detailed information about where some of the more obscure campsites are located, but I would not call it indispensable.