State must stop burying head in winter snow
When it comes to water conservation, California is burying its head in the winter snow.
Future generations will not look kindly at our leaders’ complete failure to strategically address the state’s water shortages, which will only get worse with climate change.
Two years of some of the worst drought conditions in state history haven’t slowed Big Ag’s demands for more water. Meanwhile, urban users aren’t coming close to meeting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call to voluntarily cut their water use by 15% from 2020 levels.
On Tuesday, the state reported that the statewide reduction was just 6.8% in November, compared with November 2020. Bay Area residents hit Newsom’s target, cutting water use 20.2%. But Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego county residents increased water use by 0.8%.
In a classic example of too little, too late, the California State Water Resources Control Board will finally impose mandatory water restrictions, starting Jan. 15, including fines of $500 for wasteful practices such as washing cars without a hose shutoff nozzle, hosing down sidewalks or watering grass within 48 hours after rainfall.
But the state water board failed to include agriculture in its conservation announcement, even though farmers use about 75% of the state’s available water.
The water board instead is poised to waive crucial Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta environmental standards to satisfy Big Ag’s thirst for more water in 2022. That could lead to a repeat of last year’s debacle in which, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, high water temperatures wiped out 98% of the entire hatch of endangered winter-run chinook salmon. The warm temperatures resulted from the state’s decision to provide additional water deliveries from the Sacramento River to the Central Valley.
Water board officials seem to never learn from their past mistakes. Meanwhile, state leaders remain paralyzed.
California has made no significant progress in solving its water challenges since 2007, when then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced a plan for twin tunnels under the Delta that would export water south. Neither he nor Gov. Jerry Brown could muster enough political support for the ill-conceived strategy or a scaled-back version.
Newsom has wasted three years in office hoping to obtain a “voluntary agreement” on river flows that would be acceptable to all. No significant progress has been made, despite drought conditions that have drained California reservoirs to frightening lows.
Yes, the record December snowfall brought a welcome 15 feet of snow to the Sierra, and the October rains soaked cities from Northern to Southern California. But three months didn’t erase two years of severe drought because most of the state’s large reservoirs still remain well below normal levels. The forecast for the rest of January is looking dry, state water officials said, and if that continues, California could easily wind up with what would be considered an average rainy season.
Looking beyond this winter, a study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers published in November predicted that the snowpack in the Sierra and Cascade ranges could decline up to 45% in the next 30 years.
California won’t come close to meeting the needs of future generations if it continues to stand idly by while its water supplies dry up.