The Bottomless Drought - There is More We Can Do

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By Jennifer Clary, California Water Program Manager (Follow Our California Team on Twitter - @CleanH2OCA) Governor Brown’s announcement Wednesday that we’re in a severe drought was far from a surprise. No spring rains are coming to rescue us this year as we embark on the 4^th year of drought – the worst in California’s modern history. This is a serious problem, for communities, farms and the environment. The governor took a series of executive actions. They are not enough. But it’s a good start and more than any governor has done before. Urban Conservation: The governor’s call for 25% mandatory conservation is necessary and not extreme. The governor made a point that folks who use more water than others should save more – this map from the Pacific Institute tells us who they are. The order also provides money to remove lawns and provide rebates to replace old appliances. If your washer is more than 10 years old, this could represent a savings in water. And replacing your lawn with drought-tolerant natives that attract birds and butterflies helps these species survive another dry year. Agriculture: The governor is requiring mandatory reporting of water levels and the development drought management plans (yes, a bit late). He is also promoting grants for installation of water-saving technology. This industry uses 80% of the produced water in the state, so any dry year can be a challenge – particularly areas that rely upon imported surface water. What’s the answer in a drought? We can’t expect industry to stop using water altogether; the impact in agricultural counties would be severe, and the farmers that would go out of business are the small family farmers, not corporate interests or Wall Street investors. But this in NOT the time to plant new acres of permanent crops or open up new irrigated acreage in a drought; the governor should place a moratorium on these activities. Industrial Water Use: The only industry targeted by the governor was golf, and his calls for large reductions in water use for large landscapes were short on details. But there are other water-dependent industries in the state that should be looked at. The Desert Sun published a terrific article about a Nestle plant operating in the San Bernardino National Forest. Community members near Shasta are concerned about a proposed Crystal Geyser plant. It’s time to require bottling plants – including those using tap water in urban areas – to report their water use and be prepared to reduce productions to meet conservation goals. Oil/Gas development: Not surprisingly, Governor Brown was silent on the issue of water used by the oil and gas industry. Next month, the first reports on the volume of water used by the industry will be reported – thanks to SB 1281, a bill authored by Senator Fran Pavley and supported by Clean Water Action. That would be a good time for the Governor to declare a moratorium on the use of fresh water for oil and gas extraction. The Environment: The governor plans to investigate and enforce illegal diversions, which could potentially keep water in streams to help fish and riparian ecosystems. But the environment, which will suffer most from the fourth year of drought, received the least support. In fact, Governor Brown’s order to erect salinity barriers in the Delta to protect the pumps from saltwater intrusion is actually expected to harm fish population living in an migrating through the Delta. The bottom line is that there is a lot more that could be done. Over the next couple of weeks we;ll be exploring each one of these opportunities in more depth. Please check back!