DON’T PLAY POLITICS WITH CALIFORNIA DROUGHT

When it comes to water supplies in California and the U.S. Southwest, the news has been remarkably grim in recent weeks.

One story detailed how inn owners in Mendocino County — which has no municipal water system — were begging guests not to use showers because their wells had dried up. Another noted that for the first time ever, the federal government had declared a Colorado River water shortage. The river’s large adjacent reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, provide water to 40 million residents of California and six other Western states. A third report detailed how the massive Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which provides water to 19 million people from Santa Barbara to Riverside to San Diego, had issued a supply alert because of low reservoir levels at both the Colorado River and the State Water Project.

The fallout of these stories is not yet clear. The state’s share of Colorado River supplies is insulated because it has more senior water rights than other states. And the San Diego County Water Authority’s historic 1991 decision to end its reliance on MWD supplies and diversify its water sources has been vindicated over and over again. Once 95 percent dependent on the MWD, the water authority in 2020 got less than 18 percent of its supplies from the regional water wholesaler. So San Diego is in an enviable position compared with the rest of the state.

Nonetheless, between the climate emergency and the vast wildfires and drought it has caused, California’s leaders are likely to face some very consequential decisions in coming years. These decisions need to be made with complete transparency.

Unfortunately, Gov. Gavin Newsom has prompted basic, crucial questions about his water strategy. At a Tuesday news conference, Newsom laid out an ugly picture on water shortages, especially in Northern California. But he said that mandatory state water restrictions were not likely until the end of September.

It is difficult — nay, impossible — not to wonder if the timing is related to Newsom’s desire to avoid giving one more reason to voters to reject him in the Sept. 14 recall election. Remember, the governor has already declared local drought emergencies in 50 of the state’s 58 counties. Earlier this month, in a unanimous and unprecedented vote, the State Water Resources Control Board issued a new regulation giving it emergency authority over water rights from the Central Valley to the Oregon border.

Plainly, California is in a water emergency. Should the governor wait six weeks before he takes firm action in response? The facts suggest otherwise.