Megadrought Threatens California Power Blackouts This Summer

Low hydropower means more gas, and possible blackouts.

The Oroville Dam spillway at Lake Oroville during a drought in 2021.

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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The historic drought that’s choked off rivers and reservoirs from the Rocky Mountains to the California coast is threatening to strain power grids this summer, raising the specter of blackouts and forcing the region to rely on more fossil fuels.

Many reservoirs that should be brimming with spring snowmelt show bathtub rings of dry dirt instead, including the largest one in the U.S., Lake Mead, which fell this week to a record low. Hydropower dams feeding off those reservoirs won’t be able to pump out as much electricity as they should, if they keep operating at all. After the drought last summer shut down the hydro dam at Lake Oroville, California’s second-largest reservoir, for five months, officials warn that’s no longer a distant possibility.