Western Water — Overdrawn at the Bank: Managing California’s Groundwater
The Water Education Foundation’s January/February 2014 issue of Western Water looks at California groundwater and whether its sustainability can be assured by local, regional and state management. There are areas in California where groundwater is pumped faster than it can be naturally replenished.
The Water Education Foundation’s January/February 2014 issue of Western Water looks at California groundwater and whether its sustainability can be assured by local, regional and state management. There are areas in California where groundwater is pumped faster than it can be naturally replenished. This isn’t news to anyone familiar with the problem but after many years, the time may be coming when an effort is made to seriously reverse course on what many call an unsustainable practice. “I think it’s increasingly apparent that we need to change the trajectory we are on in terms of our ability to understand groundwater and to manage it sustainably,” said Mark Cowin, director of the Department of Water Resources. While the problem of groundwater overdraft is well-known, fixing it in an equitable manner presents a significant challenge for all involved, from officials in Sacramento to the farmer tilling his field in the southern San Joaquin Valley. For more background information on groundwater please refer to the Foundation’s Layperson’s Guide to Groundwater. The digital version of this article includes videos, audio interviews, animated graphics and easy-to-access links to the reports cited in the article as well as related background information. Click here to receive a free preview. Become an e-subscriber and access the digital version and all the additional content on your desktop computer or laptop. And view the article on your laptop and download the free Water Education Foundation app to view each issue of Western Water in the new interactive format on your iPad or iPhone. Click here to learn more about how to subscribe to this exciting new downloadable digital version of Western Water. Also available on the Foundation’s website are excerpts from this excellent article written by Gary Pitzer.