DROUGHT IN THE WEST

This is the end of innocence. ~ Don Henley  

Once again, California and the western US is suffering from a significant water drought. Water, a precious finite resource that sustains our lives, is a common resource needed by every living organism. Even though we 39.6 million residents innocently do not want to admit it, periodic droughts have been an all too regular feature of our environmental landscape for centuries.

Over the last twenty years, three out of four years in California and the American West have been drought years. It’s hardly surprising, given that we live in a semi-arid region. The US Drought Monitor shows that over 90% of California currently is suffering from “extreme” or “exceptional” water drought conditions. The on-going drought has contributed to 11 major fires and 7,738 incidents in the state according to Cal Fire this season.

A drought emergency was declared in May by the California Water Resources Control Board (Board). For the first time ever the US Dept. of Interior declared on Aug. 16 a water shortage on the Colorado River basin that provides much water to seven western states, including southern California. Last year, California received an out-sized 62% of the Colorado River Lower Basin’s water allocation. Starting in Jan. 2022, farmers, ranchers, and irrigation districts will be forced to use less water.

The Board has already reduced the amount of water CA farmers can draw from rivers and streams. These reductions are unusual because in well-endowed water politics, water power usually runs uphill to Sacramento. Although bountiful, the state’s agricultural output accounts for only 0.8% of the state’s GDP, but more than 80% of its potable water usage. Such water-intensity illustrates that no one can grow almonds, artichokes, grapes or lettuce without “liquid gold.”

If California wants to reduce its water consumption, agriculture is where decreases need to start first and foremost. The price of farmers’ irrigation water has been deeply subsidized by state and federal agencies forever. With its slight cost, California ag irrigators, as well as other users have had no economic incentive to conserve or efficiently use water.

We desperately need a completely-justified increase in water pricing. Who knows, perhaps this drought might entice water policy-makers to properly raise water’s price so the reduced volumes of H2O available for agricultural irrigators would be used far more effectively. Non-ag, residential customers would be incented to use Xeriscaping methods and otherwise conserve. Lawns would become an endangered “species.”

Surface irrigation systems – also called flood irrigation where water is pumped onto an entire farm section – is highly water-wasteful. Unsurprisingly, surface systems are the most commonly used ag water irrigation system, principally because of its very low initial capital cost. California almond growers, who use about 14% of California’s prime, irrigated their cropland, overwhelmingly use surface irrigation. Drip irrigation systems are far more water-efficient, providing water only to the individual plant’s root systems. Much of California’s wine-grape industry, which uses about 7% of the state’s prime, irrigated cropland, employs drip systems.

So far, Governor Newsom has imposed no water-reduction mandates for non-agriculture water usage that we citizens consume. It’s probably only a matter of time, now that the recall election is history.

Unlike the last drought that ended in 2016, the federal government swiftly has reduced water allocations by 75% in the Central Valley Project (CVP) to farmers and cities. The CVP provides about 20% of the state’s potable water through its huge system of reservoirs and canals. Reservoirs, like Shasta Lake shown below, are now less than 25% of capacity, and continue to drop rapidly every day.

 

Shasta Lake/reservoir, July 2021.

Before the winter rains hopefully begin in a month or so, it is vital that federal and state water policies throughout the western US are changed. Like others before it, this devastating drought’s impacts are caused in no small part by misguided policies in the water market.

It’s an unfortunately fine example of a liquid tragedy of the commons. This tragedy can be mitigated by increasing everyone’s water price to properly reflect its true, essential value. In addition, water districts can incentivize conservation by providing bill credits and rebates to customers who have reduced their usage by some minimal percentage – say 20% – via conservation or installation of water-saving methods that will decrease future usage. Such incentives have produced impressive reductions in electricity usage, but all too many water utilities and districts seem inured to their value. This hesitancy needs to end.