WSP02995

• File Number: 8056
• Description: Drought Preparedness
• State: CO
• Basin: Statewide
• Date: 3/31/1977
• Author: FPC-FEA
• Title: Impacts of the Western Drought on Regional Electricity Generation
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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Reser~oir storage in the Central Valley of California,

a main agr~cultural and water consuming area, is only

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55 percentiof average. These figures do not reflect the

very dry sOil conditions which will absorb more than the

usual amount of moisture and inhibit runoff. Summary

water conditions for California, as of March 1, are

presented tn Appendix II, Table 2.
IMPACT ON ELECTRICITY GENERATION

It is:evident that the ability of hydroelectric
generating 'plants in the WSCC region to supply electric
power has decreased because of reduced precipitation.

installations in the region.

The most serious decrease

However, the decrease is not uniform over all the hydro

has occurr$d in the Pacific Northwest and northern

California.

As shown in Table 6, 50.3 percent of the

total generating capacity in the three coastal states and

Idaho is hydroelectric.

Appendix III, Figures 1, 2, 3,

and 4 show the sources of ~nergy production in those

states for:1970-76 and projected for 1977.

With the

exception qf Oregon, previous total energy production has

exceeded tqat projected for 1977.

Oregon's previous high

is only slightly less than 1977 projections.

Therefore,

critically:affect total energy production.
the projected energy production for 1977.

Table 7 gives

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it appears ,that the projected hydro deficiency may not

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