Promising Basin Levels May Mitigate Drought Concerns

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published December 17, 2007 at 10:49 AM PST

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

A multi-year drought has plagued the Colorado River Basin, but the early part of this snowfall season has been slightly above average. Which is promising news for San Diego and other parts of Californ

A multi-year drought has plagued the Colorado River Basin, but the early part of this snowfall season has been slightly above average. Which is promising news for San Diego and other parts of California that depend on the river. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce has more.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation says the snowpack in the basin stands at 108 percent of average. The bureau's Bob Walsh says last season also started with promise, but later storms bypassed the Colorado basin.

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Walsh : The annual operating plan for the Colorado River for 2008 is that the basin states, California included, will get their full Colorado River entitlement this year. But it doesn't look like there's going to be any surplus available.

He says there's no likely surplus because the drought has left the river's two huge reservoirs half-empty. Even if snowfall is average in California and Colorado, water supplies are expected to be tight next year throughout the west. With the minimum amount coming from the Colorado River and reduced supplies expected from the Sacramento River Delta to protect an endangered fish, water agencies continue to stress the need for conservation.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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