We conducted a broad roundtable discussion on a variety of water issues with four longtime water stakeholders who refl ect a range of opinions about California water.
Editor’s Desk On the Cover
Topics discussed during this roundtable discussion included fl ood management, the Delta and groundwater. Cover design by Curtis Leipold
The Water Education Foundation thanks all the sources and experts who reviewed this magazine for balance and accuracy.
The mission of the Water Education Foundation, an impartial, nonprofi t organization, is to create a better understanding of water resources and foster public understanding and resolution of water resource issues through facilitation, education and outreach.
Western Water is published by the Water Education Foundation, 717 K Street, Suite 317, Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 444-6240, fax (916) 448-7699. An annual subscription to this bi-monthly magazine is $65. The balance of the Foundation’s information program may be supported by larger amounts, which are tax deductible. Printed on recycled paper with soy-based ink.
Bay Friendly Landscaping California Department of Water Resources Coachella Valley Water District
Robin Douglas
I sat in on the recent roundtable discus- sion featured in this issue of Western Water. There are lots of water watchers we could have brought together for this discussion but we kept the group small for publication reasons. The group chosen refl ects a range of opinions from practitioners to observers of California water. One of the points the conversation kept returning to was groundwater management. There was agreement that – next to the Delta issue – how we manage groundwater and surface water together is key to moving forward in a unifi ed way. The interconnectedness of Delta operations and groundwater management is necessary, they believe. It’s true we are using more water on annual basis than Mother Nature provides and we are doing this by relying on groundwater. The groundwater overdraft in the Central Valley, leading to subsidence, is 1 to 2 million acre-feet a year and the continued groundwater degradation in some areas of the state is seen by the group as unsustainable and a sad legacy for the next generation of Californians. Current law should not be mysterious and occult as the group agreed is now refl ected in current law. I noted the group agreed that Southern California and the Silicon Valley are leaders in groundwater management. Although it has not been fully developed, it was agreed that stormwater is a major resource that we now should be using it in positive ways. It will not be easy to rework a system that was set up to move stormwater off our property, into the storm drains and out to a major receiving water source. However, the potential is so great that some regions, especially Southern California, are well on their way to better using this resource. The group agreed that conservation is also seen as a continuing way to squeeze water out of the system, both on the farms and in the urban areas. It was noted that we Californians are using half as much water per capita as we used in the late ’60s. Another point this group agreed on was that pricing water to refl ect real costs leads to increased water marketing and also increases effi ciency. It was also recognized that some type of conveyance facility is needed for
fl exibility to manage waters in the Delta and within the entire state. They said conveyance was needed for environmental protection, reliability for water users and for the benefi t of Delta users themselves. It should be noted that the voices against Delta conveyance were not in this roundtable conversation. But the group’s main concern seems to be about the size of the conveyance. All recognized that some environmental and Delta interests want an analysis of the smaller alternative. Who ultimately pays for Delta conveyance was also part of the discussion. Finally Integrated Regional Water Management was seen by the group as transformative, with bond funding allowing agencies to make investments in their backyards leading to continued future partnerships. And looming over the entire discussion was the need to prepare for extreme climate events. Read the roundtable interview yourself and join us at the Water Education Foundation in the dialog! ❖
Hear Rita Schmidt Sudman in a recent interview about Sierra snowpack and other water issues on KCBS AM & FM Radio in San Francisco.