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Department of Water Resources estimates record-low water allocations
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) says we must “prepare now” for a dry 2010, allocating only 5% of total contracted water deliveries to State Water Project (SWP) contractors.
What does this mean? SWP provides water to businesses, homes and farmers, mostly located in Central and Southern California. According to DWR, under the 5% allocation, only 200,000 of the total 4 million acre-feet of water that has been requested, will be delivered.
“Five percent sends a very strong message that the state is in a water crisis,” said Central Basin’s general manager, Art Aguilar. In fact, California’s water woes may take the national scene in the near future: Rep. Grace Napolitano said last week she is planning a congressional hearing in Southern California to examine what steps to take in the water situation.
There are several other reasons for this tiny allocation, the lowest in the agency’s history. Haunted by three years of drought and depleting reservoir levels, our tight water situation is compounded by federal mandates that restrict the amount of water that can be pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in order to protect endangered fish species.
However, estimates are historically conservative. With a relatively wet winter, we may see springtime allocations increase, as they have in the past. Take a look at a graph comparing initial estimates to actual allocations.
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I recognize that I live in a giant desert sometimes called Los Angeles County. A place that probably was never intended to have any full time residents and a place that certainly was never intended to have the second biggest city in the United States. However, somehow this happened and we now stand at a crossroads. How do we supply water to millions of people living in an enormous desert? The answer seems to be we pay large sums of money for water to be delivered from out of state and we try and create reservoirs and dams to get as much water out of the surrounding area as possible. This all worked well for a while, but with California’s ever-growing population water has become a prominent political and environmental question. For years experts having been telling the public that California is a severe drought and is quickly running out of cheap, accessible water. To me it seems that every time the issue of water comes up there is much talk and little action. Like so many political topics many talk a big game and have little back it up.
However, an important political figure has finally drawn the line in the sand. In my opinion he is not a very good overall governor. However, I do admire Governor Schwarzenegger’s outspokenness on touchy issues and the firm deadlines he often gives to California’s legislature. He was at it again on Monday, delaying action on over 700 bills passed during the summer legislative session until a water deal is made. A deal that Schwarzenegger hopes will drastically improve California’s ability to convey water to cities around the state as well as increase the number of reservoirs in the state. While I don’t agree with some of the details of Schwarzenegger’s plan, such as the increase in the number of reservoirs, at least progress is being made. At least someone had the courage to stand up and say this is wrong. Hopefully, when the deal is hashed out we can have what is necessary for human sustainability and what is good for the environment.
-Max
[...] 9, 2009 I posted my blog at http://www.centralbasin.org/blog/2009/12/07/department-of-water-resources-estimates-record-low-water…. Possibly related posts: (automatically [...]