Huntington Beach not spared in long season of drought

NATURAL PERSPECTIVES

Rain, rain, come our way.

Water and the lack of it have certainly been in the news the past

few weeks. According to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, this

summer was much drier than normal, with drought parching half of the

country. That may be an effect of global warming. Another result of

global warming will be more severe storms. We may be seeing that

already.

This September, Texans cleaned up the mess left by 2 to 4 inches

of rain falling per hour from Tropical Storm Fay. Tropical Storm

Gustav lashed the eastern seaboard with heavy rain, followed closely

by Tropical Storm Hanna, which poured 4 inches of rain across Alabama

and Florida. Talk about too much of a good thing. Four inches of rain

with one storm, sometimes in one hour, is too much. We only got four

inches of rain all last year.

We don’t usually see much precipitation from the hurricanes and

tropical storms that come up from Mexico. By the time they reach us,

all that’s left is heat, humidity, and some beautiful clouds. The

inland areas of San Bernardino and Riverside got a bit of moisture

from Tropical Storm Hernan a few weeks ago, but Huntington Beach got

only a few splats on the sidewalk, not enough to wet a frog’s tongue.

All across the country, the land is suffering from the effects of

this devastating drought. It has affected plant life, which in turn

affects the insects, which in turn affects the animals that feed on

the plants and insects. A drought causes a ripple effect in the food

chain.

How dry is it? It’s dry enough to turn our lakes to dust. If

you’ve been to Alice’s Breakfast in the Park lately, you’ve noticed

the extremely low level of water in the lake in that part of Central

Park. The water is so low that an ancient rusted auto body is

showing. Until the level dropped, its presence had been well hidden.

We worried about corrosion of the metal and leakage of crankcase oil

and other noxious fluids that must have leaked into the lake. Of

course, the car has probably been there for years, but it should be

removed.

We called Chuck Davis with public works. He said they were already

working on getting the car out. In fact, it may be gone by now. While

we had Davis on the phone, we asked him about water for our city

parks. They look green enough, even during this year of drought.

Davis said that the water used for sprinkling in the parks comes from

city-owned wells where the water isn’t of high enough quality for

drinking purposes. The water has a bit of color to it, and a slight

smell, making it more suitable for watering lawns and shrubs than for

drinking. So our valuable drinking water stores aren’t being used to

keep the parks green. That was good to know.

The Bolsa Chica hasn’t been spared in this season of drought

either. According to Peter Knapp, a volunteer with the California

Department of Fish and Game, nesting success of many species was way

down this year. You’d think that a wetland would be immune from

drought, since it is flushed by seawater twice daily, but even a

saltwater marsh needs input of fresh water occasionally to thrive.

Much of the Bolsa Chica is not subject to the tides, a sad fact that

will be corrected by the restoration soon to get underway there.

We watch the weather channel like farmers, waiting for news of the

first rainfall of the season, waiting for relief for the plants and

wildlife that suffer during these dry spells. We have a pond in our

yard for birds and other wildlife, as well as several birdbaths. We

get visits from opossums, raccoons and skunks, all drawn by the

readily available water. This week we had a common yellowthroat, a

water-loving bird, at the pond. We also had a white-breasted nuthatch

at our feeders, a first for our yard. Normally the nuthatches stay in

the foothills, but the drought has driven them in record numbers to

lower elevations throughout Orange County.

In addition to monitoring the nationwide drought, NOAA also tracks

ocean temperatures. They’re predicting limited relief from the

drought for the southwest this winter because there’s an El Nino

brewing out there in the Pacific. But it’s going to be a weak one,

not much help for most of the country.

There’s not much we can do to make it rain. We know that our

wonderful Mediterranean climate means dry summers, rainy winters and

moderate temperatures all year long. We revel in our weather, brag

about it to our out-of-state friends and curse it when it becomes too

extreme. Like now. Four inches of rain a year isn’t enough. Bring on

El Nino.

* VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and

environmentalists. They can be reached at [email protected].