Drought calls for mandatory water cutbacks
Gov. Gavin Newsom is doing too little too late to deal with California’s drought.
The state and the Bay Area just experienced the driest rainy season ever, Golden Gate Weather Services reported last week. California received only 11.46 inches of rain, a 126-year low that is less than half of the normal 23.61 inches. The Bay Area’s rainfall was even worse. The region had only 9.88 inches of rain this season, compared with its normal of 25.28 inches
Reservoirs are shrinking, fire danger is rising and water supplies are tenuous.
The situation calls for the governor to issue a mandatory cut of water use. He instead last week asked Californians to voluntarily reduce their water use by 15% and declared a drought emergency in nine more counties, including Santa Clara, San Mateo and Marin in the Bay Area.
“We are encouraging people to do common-sense things,” Newsom said, such as taking shorter showers, limiting how often they water their lawns, fixing leaks and installing more efficient appliances. “We are not here to be a nanny state.”
That’s a trite excuse for failing to set rules when they’re called for. Ensuring that California has adequate water supplies for the months and years ahead is the governor’s job. Pleading with Californians to voluntarily reduce their water usage is a failure of leadership.
So is Newsom’s weak effort to set a new course on state water policy. When he ran for office in 2018, Newsom said he would resolve the decadeslong fight pitting Northern California against Southern California, and farmers against environmentalists and urban dwellers. Three years later, California has made zero progress.
The controversial Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta tunnel project remains the symbol of the state’s neverending water wars. Voters in 1982 rejected the Peripheral Canal plan to move water above ground around the Delta. In 2009, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed an underground, two-tunnel, $17 billion, 35-mile version.
Newsom killed the notion of two tunnels in 2019, but the controversial concept of a single tunnel remains on the table. Even though his $10 billion proposal wouldn’t add a single drop of water to California’s water supply. The governor has also struck out in his efforts to reach a voluntary agreement between farmers and environmentalists on how much water should be sent south from the Delta.
Newsom, to his credit, has pushed for a broad range of projects designed to increase the state’s water supply, including a vast array of water recycling efforts. Northern Californians, take note. While we like to think we are California’s environmental leaders, Los Angeles, San Diego and other Southern California communities are far ahead of their northern neighbors when it comes to reducing water usage through recycling and conservation.
Some hope that President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan will eventually send billions to California to help fund water conservation projects. But even if Congress approves an infrastructure deal, it will take years for Californians to enjoy the benefits.
In the meantime, Newsom should be doing more than asking for voluntary water conservation. He should be requiring residents to reduce their water usage by a minimum of 15% in order to ensure an adequate supply if the drought continues for additional years.
That’s the sort of leadership this moment calls for.