Category: Water Supply

How is the state government handling the drought? And what more could be done? A hearing convened by the Senate Natural Resources and Water subcommittee earlier this week delved into the topic, with updates by leaders from the administration on the implementation of drought actions in the urban and rural sectors and in the state’s diverse ecosystems. In a second panel, I joined several other non-governmental experts to describe additional ways forward to solve our short- and long-term water challenges.

My testimony focused on a number of policy priorities that we highlighted in a recent report on drought management. In particular, I emphasized the need for better information as a basis for better water management.

Compared to most other western states and other dry places like Australia, California’s water monitoring and accounting systems are primitive, with significant gaps in information. Without a better understanding of how much water is available in our rivers and groundwater basins, as well as who’s using what, we’re saddled with inefficiencies, inadequate transparency, and greater potential for conflict. This especially matters during droughts, when every drop counts.

On the plus side, the state has recently made some progress in improving water information. Legislation enacted in 2009 requires all surface-water users to report the volumes of water they divert and also requires local agencies to report groundwater levels. Since the drought emergency was declared in January 2014, the State Water Resources Control Board has progressively amped up water-use reporting requirements.

But more should be done to fill the gaps. This includes gathering information on groundwater use—an important component of overall water use, especially during droughts. We also need to account for the volumes of water that cities and farms discharge back into streams as treated wastewater or irrigation runoff; these discharges make up a large share of water supplies in some of our rivers and streams.

Because information is only really useful if it is well organized, the state needs to pay particular attention to developing a coherent water information management system. Currently, agencies and offices that oversee different pieces of the puzzle have different tracking systems and accounting standards, which makes it very hard to get an overall picture of what’s happening in anything close to real time. The last official estimates of water supply and water use for California date back to 2010.

Funds from the state water bond could help pay for this work. In devising our system, we should draw lessons from other states and countries that are further along in this area. And given that California is a global center for the information economy, it may make sense to tap into local “big data” expertise to help build data solutions.

There’s a saying that “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” The drought is making it ever more important to manage our scarce water supplies for the benefit of our economy, society, and the environment. So we’d better get better at measuring it.

Watch the hearing on Cal Channel.

Last week the PPIC Water Policy Center partnered with the USC Schwarzenegger Institute for an important and timely discussion on the current drought and long-term solutions to California’s water challenges. The forum brought together water, business, university, and community leaders from around the state. Former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose remarks opened and closed the event, emphasized the need for a big vision to tackle the drought, accompanied by strong leadership to ensure the timely implementation of creative solutions.

The event provided an opportunity to go beyond the current finger-pointing of who uses how much water, resulting in a more productive conversation about what can be done in key sectors and regions of California. In her presentation introducing key facts about the state’s big water issues, Ellen Hanak, director of the PPIC Water Policy Center, introduced two main themes that helped guide further discussions: “We’re all in this together” and “There are no silver bullets” to tackle major droughts. There was widespread agreement among speakers that a more sustainable future for water in California will benefit both our economy and environment, but we need an “all of the above” approach. We need to increase supplies, reduce demand, and modernize our approach.

More than 20 participants shared their views in a series of three panel discussions, including two members of the PPIC Water Policy Center advisory council, Tim Quinn and Lester Snow, and a member of our research network, Dan Sumner. Mark Baldassare, president and CEO of PPIC, served as moderator for a discussion on the state’s most important drought-based challenges, the role of agriculture, and solutions for addressing the drought.

California’s drought has gone on long enough that many of the state’s reporters­—whether or not they cover the environment—have found they need to learn more about how water is managed in the state. The Sacramento Press Club helped close this information gap yesterday by hosting PPIC’s Water Policy Center director Ellen Hanak, who talked about the five things you need to know about water.

One of her points, that there are no silver bullets to solve our long-term water policy challenges, prompted the most conversation. While many reporters in the room may have already understood this, their questions were tinged with hope that there might be some solutions that could help make this drought go away (silver-plated bullets, perhaps?).

What about desalination, one reporter asked? The constraint, noted Hanak, is the cost. Seawater desalination is still a very expensive option for most water agencies. Using recycled wastewater (including to recharge groundwater) is a somewhat cheaper way to get “more water” for parched urban areas. But in some areas—like San Diego and some Central Coast communities—residents are already willing to pay the higher price tag for desalination to improve reliability Hanak said.

Another member of the audience asked about two proposed storage reservoirs, Temperance Flat (Fresno County) and Sites (Colusa-Glenn counties), both of which would be built off-stream in the Central Valley. “Our current system of reservoirs can collect roughly 40 million acre-feet, or about what we use in a year, statewide,” Hanak said. “Our groundwater basins can store at least three times that amount, and they can be recharged.” Hanak noted that storage investments will be needed to capture more water in wet years and make up for the shrinking snowpack. Surface reservoirs provide more flexibility, but groundwater storage is often much less costly. Operating the two types of storage in combination—and putting more drought storage into the ground—is an especially promising approach. “We need to think about managing water as a system.”

Another immutable water fact that Hanak shared is that the situation is hard but not hopeless. California has made steady progress in improving water management and systems, though much remains to be done—especially for maintaining healthy ecosystems and the wildlife they support. Water used to maintain environmental stability has become quite contentious, yet there are some promising stories, including in the Sacramento area. She described how water managers have introduced more natural flows in Putah Creek (a major stream that is part of the greater Sacramento River watershed)—using much less water than nature used to provide—with the result that native fish species are doing much better. This past year, even salmon returned after many decades’ absence.

Good reporting on the current drought, and on longer term water challenges, can help us all gain greater understanding of the highly complex world of water use in the state. We thank the Sacramento Press Club for the opportunity to help take the conversation forward.

ABOVE: PPIC’s Ellen Hanak greets Juliet Williams, Associated Press correspondent and president of the Sacramento Press Club, at the recent Press Club event. Photo: Phil Kampel Photography8.

This commentary was published on Time.com on April 10, 2015.

When California Governor Jerry Brown announced a sweeping set of policies to address a fourth year of severe drought, he stood on a bare mountain meadow that most years would have been covered in five feet of snow. But the dry winter, combined with record heat, means the state has almost no snow in reserve. No snow in April is a big deal for California. Like many western states, California relies on mountain snowpack for a large share of annual water supplies – in California’s case, about a third. The snow melts into rivers and streams just as the long, dry summer rolls in.

State officials are right to be concerned that the current weather pattern is a glimpse of the future – or what some have called the “new normal.” Climate change models predict increasing temperatures (3 F to 8 F by the late 21st century) and declining snowpack in this part of the country, as well as more variability—longer droughts and more frequent floods. Indeed, this year’s record-low snowpack resembles modeling predictions for the late 21st century. This makes it prudent to improve California’s ability not only to get through this drought, but also to better handle the next one.

Many of Brown’s new policies aim to prepare California by making lasting changes in how the state uses and manages water. Most newsworthy is a first-ever statewide mandate requiring Californians to reduce water use in cities and suburbs by 25%. Last January, Brown asked Californians to voluntarily reduce water use by 20%, but they only got about halfway there. The new mandate ups the ante, and makes it likely that some communities – and some residents – will face fines if they don’t comply.

So, does this mean California is ushering in an era with fewer showers, dusty yards, and no room for newcomers, as some pundits have suggested? Not quite. On average, residential water use is still quite high in California – at around 110 gallons per person per day. And the regulations will ask for smaller reductions in places where water use is already low, like the coastal cities of Santa Cruz and San Francisco. As a point of comparison, California households still use more than twice more per person than Australians, who have a similar climate and economy.

How can people save water in ways that preserve quality of life? There’s still room for reducing indoor water use. Over the past two decades, most California communities have made great progress in this area, thanks to the installation of low-flow plumbing devices and appliances, like toilets, showerheads, and washing machines. But for buildings that haven’t yet made the switch, this is a great time to upgrade, because many utilities are offering rebates to help cover the costs.

Even bigger savings can come from trimming back on outdoor watering. Most Californians don’t realize that fully half of all water use in the state’s cities and suburbs goes to landscaping, and in many of the hotter, inland communities, such as Bakersfield or Palm Springs, that share is even higher. This has happened because Californians have been accustomed to landscaping with thirsty plants like lawns that are better suited for regions where it rains in the summer. One technological innovation of the 1970s—the automatic sprinkler—compounds the problem by encouraging overwatering. People don’t think to turn it off when the weather is milder and the plants need less water.

Californians are starting to realize that it’s possible to have beautiful communities while using much less water for landscaping. This means switching out lawns and other thirsty plants for more “California friendly” plants that do well with less water, and turning to more modern irrigation systems like drip irrigation and “smart sprinklers” that don’t overwater. This doesn’t mean getting rid of all lawns, but rather keeping lawns where people use them, such as in the back yard, and replacing lawns that are just for show with beautiful, drought-tolerant plants. Here, too, it’s a good time to look for rebates, as many utilities are offering “cash for grass.” The results: a beautiful facelift for landscapes in our communities, significant water savings, and a way to be ready for the new normal.