Water Watchers “Not Worried”
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State water watchers put their third straight below-average winter in the books, but say they€™re not worried about drought this summer.
They conduct their final snow survey in the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges – the survey they use to officially determine the winter€™s total accumulation. Water stored in the snow pack is about 76 percent of normal this winter statewide. That€™s down from 87 percent last year but up from a dismal 58 percent in 2001. More than a third of the state€™s drinking and irrigation water comes from mountain snow, while snow-fed hydroelectric plants produce about a quarter of California€™s power.
