California’s climate, characterized by warm, dry summers and mild
winters, makes the state’s water supply unpredictable. For
instance, runoff and precipitation in California can be quite
variable. The northwestern part of the state can receive more
than 140 inches per year while the inland deserts bordering
Mexico can receive less than 4 inches.
By the Numbers:
Precipitation averages about 193 million acre-feet per year.
In a normal precipitation year, about half of the state’s
available surface water – 35 million acre-feet – is collected in
local, state and federal reservoirs.
California is home to more than 1,300 reservoirs.
About two-thirds of annual runoff evaporates, percolates into
the ground or is absorbed by plants, leaving about 71 million
acre-feet in average annual runoff.
According to political debate and the popular press, the purpose
of adding surface water storage reservoirs to California’s
existing system is to provide water for urban growth and
agricultural crops. But that viewpoint touches only the surface
of a more complex policy and operations issue spelled out in the
CALFED Record of Decision (ROD): the need to expand storage
capacity to increase the existing system’s flexibility, improve
water quality and provide water for fish, as well as meet the
needs of a growing population.
This issue of Western Water explores the question of whether the
state needs more surface storage, with a particular focus on the
five proposed projects identified in the CALFED 2000 ROD and the
politics and funding issues of these projects.
“Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.” – Samuel
Taylor Coleridge
For time immemorial, the seas of the Earth have been seen as an
enticing but unreachable source of fresh water. Separating the
salt from ocean water was always a cost prohibitive process,
primarily reserved to wealthy Middle Eastern nations and
small-scale operations such as ocean-bound vessels and small
islands. Otherwise, through the evolution of modern civilization,
man has depended upon lakes, rivers and groundwater – a supply
that comprises less than 3 percent of the planet’s total water.
The events of September 11 brought a new reality to the water
world. Since California was the destination of the four hijacked
planes, security was immediately tightened at dams, aqueducts and
water treatment plants. This issue of Western Water examines the
issue of water security and the preparedness of federal, state
and local agencies to the threat of terrorism. In addition to
physical security and bioterrorism, it focuses on the type of
long-term security measures being implemented to ensure a safe
water supply.
Drinking water is the ultimate recycled resource. It is recycled
over years, centuries and millenniums. The water we use today is
the same supply with which civilization began. The water that
once coursed down the Ganges River or splashed into Julius
Caesar’s bathing pool may end up running from the tap in your
home.
Balance between ecosystem restoration and water supply
reliability is key to a Bay-Delta solution. Everyone agrees on
this concept. But the demands of the competing interests can tilt
the scales. So, too, can the member agencies’ conflicting
missions. For more than three years, the joint state-federal
CALFED Bay-Delta Program has been searching for equilibrium among
the Delta’s complex problems and its contentious stakeholders. In
December, it released its latest blueprint for resolving the
Delta dilemma — the Revised Phase II Report.
This issue updates progress on crafting and implementing
California’s 4.4 plan to reduce its use of Colorado River water
by 800,000 acre-feet. The state has used as much as 5.2 million
acre-feet of Colorado River water annually, but under pressure
from Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and the other six states
that share this resource, California’s Colorado River parties
have been trying to close the gap between demand and supply.
