Report Tallies the Damages of California's Drought

"A new report shows reduced hydroelectricity generation, due to the drought in California, has increased costs to electric ratepayers and increased greenhouse gas pollution," reports Ed Joyce.

The report showed that electricity generation from hydropower dropped to 7 percent statewide in 2015. In a normal water year, according to Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute and the report’s author, that total reaches 15 to 18 percent. According to the article, "the additional combustion of fossil fuels for electric generation also led to a 10 percent increase in the release of carbon dioxide from California power plants."

The article includes more insight into the report's projections for the future as well (spoiler: it doesn’t look good).