Capturing Storm Runoff Could Supply Water to Millions of Californians a Year, Study Finds
Drought-Prone California OKs New Rules for Turning Wastewater Directly into Drinking Water
Tunnel Vision: Gov. Newsom’s Ambitious Water Plan Divides Californians
Farmers Look to Agave for Spirits to Help Weather Droughts and Reduce Groundwater Use
80 Ranchers Ignored Emergency Water Orders and Kept Pumping. Will Tripling the Fines Stop Them?
California Has Bold Plans to Address Water Security and Boost Supply — but Will They Succeed?
Meet the California Farmers Awash in Colorado River Water, Even in a Drought
California Drought Enters Fourth Year With Little Respite on the Horizon
The Mad Rush for Groundwater in the Central Valley
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ranks California ninth among states with the most estimated urban runoff. Rainwater flows off streets and yards into storm drains that eventually empty into waterways and the ocean — carrying pollutants picked up along the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The analysis found that California sheds\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>almost 2.3 million acre-feet of precipitation from pavements, roofs, sidewalks and other surfaces in cities and towns every year. If captured and treated, that would supply more than a quarter of \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/California-Water-Plan/Docs/Update2023/PRD/California-Water-Plan-Update-2023-Public-Review-Draft.pdf\">California’s urban water use (PDF)\u003c/a>, or almost 7 million \u003ca href=\"https://www.watereducation.org/western-water/water-stressed-california-and-southwest-acre-foot-water-goes-lot-further-it-used\">Southern California households\u003c/a> each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Heather Cooley, study co-author and director of research, Pacific Institute\"]‘What we’ve recognized, and are recognizing, is that stormwater is a resource that can be harnessed.’[/pullquote]Los Angeles came in first in the West and 19th nationwide among 2,645 urban areas for amounts of runoff. An average of about 490,000 acre-feet a year of rainfall flows off the pavement in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim area — \u003ca href=\"https://www.ladwp.com/sites/default/files/documents/LADWP_2020_UWMP_Web.pdf\">roughly the amount that the city of Los Angeles and some surrounding areas (PDF)\u003c/a> use in a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we’ve recognized, and are recognizing, is that stormwater is a resource that can be harnessed,” said \u003ca href=\"https://pacinst.org/meet-our-staff-heather-cooley/\">Heather Cooley\u003c/a>, co-author of the study and director of research at the Pacific Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, former President Donald Trump and other Republican politicians and lawmakers have criticized California for “wasting” water that flows out to sea. At the Conservative Political Action Conference last week, Trump \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/article285887976.html\">said a California congressman told him\u003c/a>, “‘No, we don’t have a drought. We have so much water you don’t know what to do.’ But they send it out to the Pacific. We’re not going to let them get away with that any longer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there are many reasons why stormwater flows into the ocean: Capturing it \u003ca href=\"https://gispublic.waterboards.ca.gov/portal/apps/storymaps/stories/3073c5b98ecb4f76969e50b3e9065a79\">can be costly\u003c/a>, requiring elaborate construction projects to trap and clean up or hold massive volumes of water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And cities like Los Angeles are intentionally designed to protect people from floods by funneling large volumes of stormwater into channels and then out to sea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The whole area is designed with storm drains to capture all the flows so that people don’t get flooded, people’s property don’t get flooded,” said Adam Ariki, interim deputy director at Los Angeles County Department of Public Works. “We’re really trying to capture as much of it as possible. And with time, that number is going to go higher and higher and higher.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In many cases, water containing oil, trash and other pollutants must be treated before it can percolate into aquifers pumped for drinking water. In others, lack of open space limits where runoff could be allowed to seep naturally into the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, in some controversial cases, particularly the Bay-Delta in Northern California, experts say stormwater must flow into rivers and the ocean to support \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-01/epa-comments-on-sept-2023-ca-swrcb-sac-delta-draft-staff-report-2024-01-19.pdf\">fish (PDF)\u003c/a> and other wildlife. Growers and others in the Central Valley criticize those flows and call for more reservoirs, saying the water is wasted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometimes, there’s just too much rain at once to capture all of it. “Some flows may need to be sacrificed or allowed to go to the ocean because you can only capture so much of it, especially like last year,” Ariki said. “That’s the challenge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/z0qa0/18/\" width=\"800\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water officials and experts agree that capturing more stormwater before it flows into drains is a top priority to help \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/\">boost California’s water supply\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los Angeles County already collects about 200,000 acre-feet of runoff a year, including about 95% of the San Gabriel River’s flows — enough to fill about 100,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Last year, among the wettest in California, the county captured around 630,000 acre-feet of storm flows, Ariki said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://pw.lacounty.gov/wrd/Reservoir/Reservoirs.pdf\">Fourteen dams capture flows off the mountains (PDF)\u003c/a> that are then slowly released into \u003ca href=\"https://pw.lacounty.gov/LACFCD/web/\">27 spreading grounds\u003c/a>, where they percolate into the ground to feed aquifers. However, capturing water from concrete rather than mountainsides can be more challenging.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11971872,science_1983699,news_11969648\"]In most California cities, runoff flows into storm drains, not treatment plants. San Francisco, with its \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfpuc.org/about-us/our-systems/sewer-system/our-combined-sewer\">combined sewer system\u003c/a> that treats both stormwater and sewage, and Santa Monica, with its recently upgraded facilities for treating and injecting stormwater into the aquifer, are rare exceptions. Pollution of \u003ca href=\"https://www.sccwrp.org/about/research-areas/stormwater-bmps/runoff-water-quality/\">ocean waters\u003c/a> can sicken people and disrupt ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is absolutely unsafe to swim in many locations for 72 hours after a rain event because of the pollution coming from our storm drain system,” said Tracy Quinn, president and \u003ca href=\"https://healthebay.org/about/\">CEO of Heal the Bay\u003c/a>, an environmental nonprofit that focuses on Santa Monica Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, Los Angeles County voters approved \u003ca href=\"https://safecleanwaterla.org/about/faq/\">Measure W,\u003c/a> a property tax of 2.5 cents per square foot of impermeable surface, to generate about $300 million per year for stormwater capture projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists are calling on the program to replace more hardscapes with parks and usable greenspace by 2045 — a move that also could help communities, especially in highly urbanized cities, better weather the extreme heat and floods of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los Angeles is already working to \u003ca href=\"https://www.lacitysan.org/san/faces/home/portal/s-lsh-wwd/s-lsh-wwd-wp/s-lsh-wwd-wp-gi/s-lsh-wwd-wp-gi-gs/s-lsh-wwd-wp-gi-gs-bga?_adf.ctrl-state=byw1ri1t5_78&_afrLoop=25981605970620718#!\">funnel water off streets and into planted areas\u003c/a> as well as underground infiltration chambers and wells. And it has plans to ramp up the effort and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ladwp.com/community/construction-projects/other/stormwater-capture-parks-program\">expand stormwater capture beneath parks in the San Fernando Valley\u003c/a>, as well, said Art Castro, manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s watershed management group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you look at the density of the city, we can no longer build spreading grounds that are roughly 150 acres big,” Castro said. “Parks are going to be the next big opportunity that we have, and if you think about it, parks are in almost every community, in every watershed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Researchers say if California could collect and treat more stormwater in cities, it could provide enough water to supply a quarter of the state’s urban population.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1709241534,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":true,"iframeSrcs":["https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/z0qa0/18/"],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":24,"wordCount":1074},"headData":{"title":"Capturing Storm Runoff Could Supply Water to Millions of Californians a Year, Study Finds | KQED","description":"Researchers say if California could collect and treat more stormwater in cities, it could provide enough water to supply a quarter of the state’s urban population.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Capturing Storm Runoff Could Supply Water to Millions of Californians a Year, Study Finds","datePublished":"2024-02-29T22:00:24.000Z","dateModified":"2024-02-29T21:18:54.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"Y","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"sticky":false,"nprByline":"\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/author/rachel-becker/\">Rachel Becker\u003c/a>","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","showOnAuthorArchivePages":"No","articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11977573/californias-urban-runoff-flows-down-the-drain-can-the-drought-plagued-state-capture-more-of-it","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California fails to capture massive amounts of stormwater rushing off city streets and surfaces that could help supply water for millions of people a year, according to \u003ca href=\"https://pacinst.org/publication/united-states-urban-stormwater-runoff-potential/\">a new analysis \u003c/a>released today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nationwide report, by researchers with the Pacific Institute, ranks California ninth among states with the most estimated urban runoff. Rainwater flows off streets and yards into storm drains that eventually empty into waterways and the ocean — carrying pollutants picked up along the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The analysis found that California sheds\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>almost 2.3 million acre-feet of precipitation from pavements, roofs, sidewalks and other surfaces in cities and towns every year. If captured and treated, that would supply more than a quarter of \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/California-Water-Plan/Docs/Update2023/PRD/California-Water-Plan-Update-2023-Public-Review-Draft.pdf\">California’s urban water use (PDF)\u003c/a>, or almost 7 million \u003ca href=\"https://www.watereducation.org/western-water/water-stressed-california-and-southwest-acre-foot-water-goes-lot-further-it-used\">Southern California households\u003c/a> each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"‘What we’ve recognized, and are recognizing, is that stormwater is a resource that can be harnessed.’","name":"pullquote","attributes":{"named":{"align":"right","size":"medium","citation":"Heather Cooley, study co-author and director of research, Pacific Institute","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Los Angeles came in first in the West and 19th nationwide among 2,645 urban areas for amounts of runoff. An average of about 490,000 acre-feet a year of rainfall flows off the pavement in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim area — \u003ca href=\"https://www.ladwp.com/sites/default/files/documents/LADWP_2020_UWMP_Web.pdf\">roughly the amount that the city of Los Angeles and some surrounding areas (PDF)\u003c/a> use in a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we’ve recognized, and are recognizing, is that stormwater is a resource that can be harnessed,” said \u003ca href=\"https://pacinst.org/meet-our-staff-heather-cooley/\">Heather Cooley\u003c/a>, co-author of the study and director of research at the Pacific Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, former President Donald Trump and other Republican politicians and lawmakers have criticized California for “wasting” water that flows out to sea. At the Conservative Political Action Conference last week, Trump \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/article285887976.html\">said a California congressman told him\u003c/a>, “‘No, we don’t have a drought. We have so much water you don’t know what to do.’ But they send it out to the Pacific. We’re not going to let them get away with that any longer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there are many reasons why stormwater flows into the ocean: Capturing it \u003ca href=\"https://gispublic.waterboards.ca.gov/portal/apps/storymaps/stories/3073c5b98ecb4f76969e50b3e9065a79\">can be costly\u003c/a>, requiring elaborate construction projects to trap and clean up or hold massive volumes of water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And cities like Los Angeles are intentionally designed to protect people from floods by funneling large volumes of stormwater into channels and then out to sea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The whole area is designed with storm drains to capture all the flows so that people don’t get flooded, people’s property don’t get flooded,” said Adam Ariki, interim deputy director at Los Angeles County Department of Public Works. “We’re really trying to capture as much of it as possible. And with time, that number is going to go higher and higher and higher.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In many cases, water containing oil, trash and other pollutants must be treated before it can percolate into aquifers pumped for drinking water. In others, lack of open space limits where runoff could be allowed to seep naturally into the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, in some controversial cases, particularly the Bay-Delta in Northern California, experts say stormwater must flow into rivers and the ocean to support \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-01/epa-comments-on-sept-2023-ca-swrcb-sac-delta-draft-staff-report-2024-01-19.pdf\">fish (PDF)\u003c/a> and other wildlife. Growers and others in the Central Valley criticize those flows and call for more reservoirs, saying the water is wasted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometimes, there’s just too much rain at once to capture all of it. “Some flows may need to be sacrificed or allowed to go to the ocean because you can only capture so much of it, especially like last year,” Ariki said. “That’s the challenge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/z0qa0/18/\" width=\"800\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water officials and experts agree that capturing more stormwater before it flows into drains is a top priority to help \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/\">boost California’s water supply\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los Angeles County already collects about 200,000 acre-feet of runoff a year, including about 95% of the San Gabriel River’s flows — enough to fill about 100,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Last year, among the wettest in California, the county captured around 630,000 acre-feet of storm flows, Ariki said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://pw.lacounty.gov/wrd/Reservoir/Reservoirs.pdf\">Fourteen dams capture flows off the mountains (PDF)\u003c/a> that are then slowly released into \u003ca href=\"https://pw.lacounty.gov/LACFCD/web/\">27 spreading grounds\u003c/a>, where they percolate into the ground to feed aquifers. However, capturing water from concrete rather than mountainsides can be more challenging.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"label":"Related Stories ","postid":"news_11971872,science_1983699,news_11969648"},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In most California cities, runoff flows into storm drains, not treatment plants. San Francisco, with its \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfpuc.org/about-us/our-systems/sewer-system/our-combined-sewer\">combined sewer system\u003c/a> that treats both stormwater and sewage, and Santa Monica, with its recently upgraded facilities for treating and injecting stormwater into the aquifer, are rare exceptions. Pollution of \u003ca href=\"https://www.sccwrp.org/about/research-areas/stormwater-bmps/runoff-water-quality/\">ocean waters\u003c/a> can sicken people and disrupt ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is absolutely unsafe to swim in many locations for 72 hours after a rain event because of the pollution coming from our storm drain system,” said Tracy Quinn, president and \u003ca href=\"https://healthebay.org/about/\">CEO of Heal the Bay\u003c/a>, an environmental nonprofit that focuses on Santa Monica Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, Los Angeles County voters approved \u003ca href=\"https://safecleanwaterla.org/about/faq/\">Measure W,\u003c/a> a property tax of 2.5 cents per square foot of impermeable surface, to generate about $300 million per year for stormwater capture projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists are calling on the program to replace more hardscapes with parks and usable greenspace by 2045 — a move that also could help communities, especially in highly urbanized cities, better weather the extreme heat and floods of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los Angeles is already working to \u003ca href=\"https://www.lacitysan.org/san/faces/home/portal/s-lsh-wwd/s-lsh-wwd-wp/s-lsh-wwd-wp-gi/s-lsh-wwd-wp-gi-gs/s-lsh-wwd-wp-gi-gs-bga?_adf.ctrl-state=byw1ri1t5_78&_afrLoop=25981605970620718#!\">funnel water off streets and into planted areas\u003c/a> as well as underground infiltration chambers and wells. And it has plans to ramp up the effort and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ladwp.com/community/construction-projects/other/stormwater-capture-parks-program\">expand stormwater capture beneath parks in the San Fernando Valley\u003c/a>, as well, said Art Castro, manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s watershed management group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you look at the density of the city, we can no longer build spreading grounds that are roughly 150 acres big,” Castro said. “Parks are going to be the next big opportunity that we have, and if you think about it, parks are in almost every community, in every watershed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11977573/californias-urban-runoff-flows-down-the-drain-can-the-drought-plagued-state-capture-more-of-it","authors":["byline_news_11977573"],"categories":["news_19906","news_8","news_356"],"tags":["news_18538","news_17601","news_27626","news_3187","news_483"],"affiliates":["news_18481"],"featImg":"news_11977578","label":"news_18481"},"news_11970519":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11970519","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"news","id":"11970519","score":null,"sort":[1703109651000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"drought-prone-california-oks-new-rules-for-turning-wastewater-directly-into-drinking-water","title":"Drought-Prone California OKs New Rules for Turning Wastewater Directly into Drinking Water","publishDate":1703109651,"format":"standard","headTitle":"Drought-Prone California OKs New Rules for Turning Wastewater Directly into Drinking Water | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"news"},"content":"\u003cp>When a toilet is flushed in California, the water can end up in a lot of places: An ice skating rink near Disneyland, ski slopes around Lake Tahoe, farmland in the Central Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And — coming soon — kitchen faucets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California regulators on Tuesday approved new rules to let water agencies recycle wastewater and put it right back into the pipes that carry drinking water to homes, schools and businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a big step for a state that has \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-droughts-gavin-newsom-recycling-c22de8f25b9d6a2bf69277a7185abc0f\">struggled for decades\u003c/a> to secure reliable sources of drinking water for its more than 39 million residents. And it signals a shift in public opinion on a subject that, as recently as two decades ago, prompted a backlash that scuttled similar projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of drinking water division, California Water Resources Control Board\"]‘It’s at the same drinking water quality, and probably better in many instances.’[/pullquote]\u003cbr>\nSince then, California has been through multiple extreme droughts, including the most recent one that scientists said was the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/business-california-droughts-weather-climate-and-environment-c23c4dc500918ae6091826f2c38f521c\">driest three-year period\u003c/a> on record and left the state’s reservoirs at \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-droughts-government-and-politics-science-business-76709d5854394905e0f46880ed6dab9c\">dangerously low levels\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Water is so precious in California. It is important that we use it more than once,” said Jennifer West, managing director of WateReuse California, a group advocating for recycled water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has been using recycled wastewater for decades. The Ontario Reign minor league hockey team has used it to make ice for its rink in Southern California. Soda Springs Ski Resort near Lake Tahoe has used it to make snow. And farmers in the Central Valley, where much of the nation’s vegetables, fruits and nuts are grown, use it to water their crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11729926,science_1983699\" label=\"Related Stories\"]But it hasn’t been used directly for drinking water. Orange County operates a large water purification system that recycles wastewater and then uses it to refill underground aquifers. The water mingles with the groundwater for months before being pumped up and used for drinking water again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s new rules would let — but not require — water agencies take wastewater, treat it, and then put it right back into the drinking water system. California would be just the second state to allow this, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/colorado-climate-and-environment-mountains-wastewater-8eef31f783da967b35c3a989ccf34af0\">following Colorado\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s taken regulators more than 10 years to develop these rules, a process that included multiple reviews by independent panels of scientists. A state law required the California Water Resources Control Board to approve these regulations by Dec. 31 — a deadline met with just days to spare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The vote was heralded by some of the state’s biggest water agencies, which all have plans to build huge water recycling plants in the coming years. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which serves 19 million people, aims to produce up to 150 million gallons (nearly 570 million liters) per day of both direct and indirect recycled water. A project in San Diego is aiming to account for nearly half of the city’s water by 2035.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adel Hagekhalil, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said the new rules “will enable water managers across the state to consider new projects that have not yet been contemplated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water agencies will need public support to complete these projects — which means convincing customers that not only is recycled water safe to drink, but it’s not icky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s new rules require the wastewater to be treated for all pathogens and viruses, even if the pathogens and viruses aren’t in the wastewater. That’s different from regular water treatment rules, which only require treatment for known pathogens, said Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the division of drinking water for the California Water Resources Control Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, the treatment is so stringent it removes all of the minerals that make fresh drinking water taste good — meaning they have to be added back at the end of the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s at the same drinking water quality and probably better in many instances,” Polhemus said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s expensive and time-consuming to build these treatment facilities, so Polhemus said it will only be an option for bigger, well-funded cities — at least initially.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Jose, local officials have opened the Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center for public tours “so that people can see that this is a very high-tech process that ensures the water is super clean,” said Kirsten Struve, assistant officer for the water supply division at the Santa Clara Valley Water District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, the agency uses the water for things like irrigating parks and playing fields. But they plan to use it for drinking water in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We live in California, where the drought happens all the time. And with climate change, it will only get worse,” Struve said. “And this is a drought-resistant supply that we will need in the future to meet the demands of our communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the Water Resources Control Board that approved the new rules on Tuesday, noted that most people are already drinking recycled water anyway. Most wastewater treatment plants put their treated water back into rivers and streams, which then flow down to the next town so they can drink it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Anyone out there taking drinking water downstream from a wastewater treatment plant discharge — which, I promise you, you’re all doing — is already drinking toilet to tap,” Esquivel said. “All water is recycled. What we have here are standards, science and — importantly — monitoring that allow us to have the faith that it is pure water.”\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"California regulators have approved new rules to let water agencies recycle wastewater and put it right back into the pipes that carry drinking water to homes, schools and businesses. ","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1703115260,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":24,"wordCount":978},"headData":{"title":"Drought-Prone California OKs New Rules for Turning Wastewater Directly into Drinking Water | KQED","description":"California regulators have approved new rules to let water agencies recycle wastewater and put it right back into the pipes that carry drinking water to homes, schools and businesses. ","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Drought-Prone California OKs New Rules for Turning Wastewater Directly into Drinking Water","datePublished":"2023-12-20T22:00:51.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-20T23:34:20.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"Y","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"sticky":false,"nprByline":"Adam Beam\u003cbr>The Associated Press\u003c/br>","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","showOnAuthorArchivePages":"No","articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11970519/drought-prone-california-oks-new-rules-for-turning-wastewater-directly-into-drinking-water","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When a toilet is flushed in California, the water can end up in a lot of places: An ice skating rink near Disneyland, ski slopes around Lake Tahoe, farmland in the Central Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And — coming soon — kitchen faucets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California regulators on Tuesday approved new rules to let water agencies recycle wastewater and put it right back into the pipes that carry drinking water to homes, schools and businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a big step for a state that has \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-droughts-gavin-newsom-recycling-c22de8f25b9d6a2bf69277a7185abc0f\">struggled for decades\u003c/a> to secure reliable sources of drinking water for its more than 39 million residents. And it signals a shift in public opinion on a subject that, as recently as two decades ago, prompted a backlash that scuttled similar projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"‘It’s at the same drinking water quality, and probably better in many instances.’","name":"pullquote","attributes":{"named":{"size":"medium","align":"right","citation":"Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of drinking water division, California Water Resources Control Board","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cbr>\nSince then, California has been through multiple extreme droughts, including the most recent one that scientists said was the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/business-california-droughts-weather-climate-and-environment-c23c4dc500918ae6091826f2c38f521c\">driest three-year period\u003c/a> on record and left the state’s reservoirs at \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-droughts-government-and-politics-science-business-76709d5854394905e0f46880ed6dab9c\">dangerously low levels\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Water is so precious in California. It is important that we use it more than once,” said Jennifer West, managing director of WateReuse California, a group advocating for recycled water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has been using recycled wastewater for decades. The Ontario Reign minor league hockey team has used it to make ice for its rink in Southern California. Soda Springs Ski Resort near Lake Tahoe has used it to make snow. And farmers in the Central Valley, where much of the nation’s vegetables, fruits and nuts are grown, use it to water their crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"postid":"news_11729926,science_1983699","label":"Related Stories "},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But it hasn’t been used directly for drinking water. Orange County operates a large water purification system that recycles wastewater and then uses it to refill underground aquifers. The water mingles with the groundwater for months before being pumped up and used for drinking water again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s new rules would let — but not require — water agencies take wastewater, treat it, and then put it right back into the drinking water system. California would be just the second state to allow this, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/colorado-climate-and-environment-mountains-wastewater-8eef31f783da967b35c3a989ccf34af0\">following Colorado\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s taken regulators more than 10 years to develop these rules, a process that included multiple reviews by independent panels of scientists. A state law required the California Water Resources Control Board to approve these regulations by Dec. 31 — a deadline met with just days to spare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The vote was heralded by some of the state’s biggest water agencies, which all have plans to build huge water recycling plants in the coming years. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which serves 19 million people, aims to produce up to 150 million gallons (nearly 570 million liters) per day of both direct and indirect recycled water. A project in San Diego is aiming to account for nearly half of the city’s water by 2035.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adel Hagekhalil, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said the new rules “will enable water managers across the state to consider new projects that have not yet been contemplated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water agencies will need public support to complete these projects — which means convincing customers that not only is recycled water safe to drink, but it’s not icky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s new rules require the wastewater to be treated for all pathogens and viruses, even if the pathogens and viruses aren’t in the wastewater. That’s different from regular water treatment rules, which only require treatment for known pathogens, said Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the division of drinking water for the California Water Resources Control Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, the treatment is so stringent it removes all of the minerals that make fresh drinking water taste good — meaning they have to be added back at the end of the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s at the same drinking water quality and probably better in many instances,” Polhemus said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s expensive and time-consuming to build these treatment facilities, so Polhemus said it will only be an option for bigger, well-funded cities — at least initially.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Jose, local officials have opened the Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center for public tours “so that people can see that this is a very high-tech process that ensures the water is super clean,” said Kirsten Struve, assistant officer for the water supply division at the Santa Clara Valley Water District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, the agency uses the water for things like irrigating parks and playing fields. But they plan to use it for drinking water in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We live in California, where the drought happens all the time. And with climate change, it will only get worse,” Struve said. “And this is a drought-resistant supply that we will need in the future to meet the demands of our communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the Water Resources Control Board that approved the new rules on Tuesday, noted that most people are already drinking recycled water anyway. Most wastewater treatment plants put their treated water back into rivers and streams, which then flow down to the next town so they can drink it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Anyone out there taking drinking water downstream from a wastewater treatment plant discharge — which, I promise you, you’re all doing — is already drinking toilet to tap,” Esquivel said. “All water is recycled. What we have here are standards, science and — importantly — monitoring that allow us to have the faith that it is pure water.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11970519/drought-prone-california-oks-new-rules-for-turning-wastewater-directly-into-drinking-water","authors":["byline_news_11970519"],"categories":["news_19906","news_8"],"tags":["news_17601","news_20287","news_33683"],"featImg":"news_11970520","label":"news"},"news_11969648":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11969648","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"news","id":"11969648","score":null,"sort":[1702504820000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"tunnel-vision-gov-newsoms-ambitious-water-plan-divides-californians","title":"Tunnel Vision: Gov. Newsom’s Ambitious Water Plan Divides Californians","publishDate":1702504820,"format":"standard","headTitle":"Tunnel Vision: Gov. Newsom’s Ambitious Water Plan Divides Californians | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"news"},"content":"\u003cp>A long-sought and disputed project in drought-prone California aimed at capturing more water during heavy rain storms reached a key milestone on Friday when Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration finished an environmental review for an underground tunnel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-sacramento-jerry-brown-trending-news-82c1f2b378ef01793dc69fb3140cf294\">The tunnel\u003c/a> would be about 45 miles long and 36 feet wide or large enough to carry more than 161 million gallons of water per hour. The tunnel would be another way to get water from Northern California, where most of the state’s water is, to Southern California, where most of the people live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Newsom administration said the tunnel is necessary to upgrade the state’s aging infrastructure because it will protect the water supply from earthquakes and capture more water from rainstorms known as atmospheric rivers that scientists say have been increasing because of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Adel Hagekhalil, general manager, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California\"]‘The recent drought was a powerful indicator of just how vulnerable the State Water Project is — deliveries were so low last year that some Southern California communities could only get a fraction of the water they normally rely on.’[/pullquote]But environmental groups, Native American tribes and other opponents say the project will take more water out of the river than is necessary and will harm endangered species of fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Friday, the California Department of Water Resources released its \u003ca href=\"https://www.deltaconveyanceproject.com/planning-processes/california-environmental-quality-act/final-eir/final-eir-document\">final environmental impact report\u003c/a> for the project. The report is the last step of a complex and lengthy state regulatory process. But it doesn’t mean the project is close to being built. The project still must complete a federal environmental review and obtain various state and federal permits. That process is expected to last until 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials have not said how much it will cost to build it. A previous estimate on a different version of the tunnel was for $16 billion. State officials will release a new cost estimate next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11967823,science_1983092,science_3509\" label=\"Related Stories\"]Still, Friday’s report is significant because it signals the Newsom administration’s commitment to completing the project despite strong opposition from communities in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River Delta region. Newsom said climate change is threatening the state’s access to clean drinking water, warning the state’s supply could drop 10% by 2040.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state recently went three years without significant, sustained rain. The drought dropped reservoirs to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-droughts-government-and-politics-science-business-76709d5854394905e0f46880ed6dab9c\">dangerously low levels\u003c/a>, forcing millions of people to ration their supply. That drought ended suddenly last winter when California was hit by a series of storms that flooded the state’s rivers and \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-flooding-snowmelt-tulare-lake-water-c8c9914b12f25233fa9bfd4bedbbd6b4\">filled lake beds\u003c/a> that had been dry for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials said that had this tunnel existed during those storms, the state could have captured and stored enough water for 2.3 million people to use for one year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Doing nothing is not an option,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental groups say the Newsom administration is ignoring their concerns. The Sierra Club said in a statement that the tunnel’s construction and operation would “cause mass environmental destruction for Delta communities and ecosystems.” Scott Artis, executive director of the Golden State Salmon Association, called it “an extinction plan for salmon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jon Rosenfield, science director for San Francisco Baykeeper, said California already diverts more than half of the water flowing through Central Valley rivers for farms and big cities, which threaten native species of fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The science clearly demonstrates that fish need increased river flows to survive, but state agencies are ignoring it,” Rosenfield said. “Chinook salmon, steelhead, longfin smelt and other fish that have thrived here for millennia cannot survive the Newsom administration’s assault on San Francisco Bay and its watershed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said the Newsom administration has secured more than $1 billion in funding over the last three years to increase flows in rivers for environmental purposes and to expand habitat for fish and other wildlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our commitment remains steadfast for water resilience, not only for human communities but also for our natural communities,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adel Hagekhalil, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said the agency will review the findings from the environmental impact report to determine “how best to invest our resources.” The water district provides water to 19 million people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The recent drought was a powerful indicator of just how vulnerable the State Water Project is — deliveries were so low last year that some Southern California communities could only get a fraction of the water they normally rely on,” Hagekhalil said. “Preventing this from happening again will take bold action and a clear recognition of the challenges we face.”\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"The tunnel would be another way to get water from Northern California, where most of the state's water is, to Southern California, where most of the people live.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1702426751,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":19,"wordCount":815},"headData":{"title":"Tunnel Vision: Gov. Newsom’s Ambitious Water Plan Divides Californians | KQED","description":"The tunnel would be another way to get water from Northern California, where most of the state's water is, to Southern California, where most of the people live.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Tunnel Vision: Gov. Newsom’s Ambitious Water Plan Divides Californians","datePublished":"2023-12-13T22:00:20.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T00:19:11.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"Y","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"sticky":false,"nprByline":"Adam Beam\u003cbr>The Associated Press\u003c/br>","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","showOnAuthorArchivePages":"No","articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11969648/tunnel-vision-gov-newsoms-ambitious-water-plan-divides-californians","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A long-sought and disputed project in drought-prone California aimed at capturing more water during heavy rain storms reached a key milestone on Friday when Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration finished an environmental review for an underground tunnel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-sacramento-jerry-brown-trending-news-82c1f2b378ef01793dc69fb3140cf294\">The tunnel\u003c/a> would be about 45 miles long and 36 feet wide or large enough to carry more than 161 million gallons of water per hour. The tunnel would be another way to get water from Northern California, where most of the state’s water is, to Southern California, where most of the people live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Newsom administration said the tunnel is necessary to upgrade the state’s aging infrastructure because it will protect the water supply from earthquakes and capture more water from rainstorms known as atmospheric rivers that scientists say have been increasing because of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"‘The recent drought was a powerful indicator of just how vulnerable the State Water Project is — deliveries were so low last year that some Southern California communities could only get a fraction of the water they normally rely on.’","name":"pullquote","attributes":{"named":{"size":"medium","align":"right","citation":"Adel Hagekhalil, general manager, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But environmental groups, Native American tribes and other opponents say the project will take more water out of the river than is necessary and will harm endangered species of fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Friday, the California Department of Water Resources released its \u003ca href=\"https://www.deltaconveyanceproject.com/planning-processes/california-environmental-quality-act/final-eir/final-eir-document\">final environmental impact report\u003c/a> for the project. The report is the last step of a complex and lengthy state regulatory process. But it doesn’t mean the project is close to being built. The project still must complete a federal environmental review and obtain various state and federal permits. That process is expected to last until 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials have not said how much it will cost to build it. A previous estimate on a different version of the tunnel was for $16 billion. State officials will release a new cost estimate next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"postid":"news_11967823,science_1983092,science_3509","label":"Related Stories "},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Still, Friday’s report is significant because it signals the Newsom administration’s commitment to completing the project despite strong opposition from communities in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River Delta region. Newsom said climate change is threatening the state’s access to clean drinking water, warning the state’s supply could drop 10% by 2040.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state recently went three years without significant, sustained rain. The drought dropped reservoirs to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-droughts-government-and-politics-science-business-76709d5854394905e0f46880ed6dab9c\">dangerously low levels\u003c/a>, forcing millions of people to ration their supply. That drought ended suddenly last winter when California was hit by a series of storms that flooded the state’s rivers and \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-flooding-snowmelt-tulare-lake-water-c8c9914b12f25233fa9bfd4bedbbd6b4\">filled lake beds\u003c/a> that had been dry for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials said that had this tunnel existed during those storms, the state could have captured and stored enough water for 2.3 million people to use for one year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Doing nothing is not an option,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental groups say the Newsom administration is ignoring their concerns. The Sierra Club said in a statement that the tunnel’s construction and operation would “cause mass environmental destruction for Delta communities and ecosystems.” Scott Artis, executive director of the Golden State Salmon Association, called it “an extinction plan for salmon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jon Rosenfield, science director for San Francisco Baykeeper, said California already diverts more than half of the water flowing through Central Valley rivers for farms and big cities, which threaten native species of fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The science clearly demonstrates that fish need increased river flows to survive, but state agencies are ignoring it,” Rosenfield said. “Chinook salmon, steelhead, longfin smelt and other fish that have thrived here for millennia cannot survive the Newsom administration’s assault on San Francisco Bay and its watershed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said the Newsom administration has secured more than $1 billion in funding over the last three years to increase flows in rivers for environmental purposes and to expand habitat for fish and other wildlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our commitment remains steadfast for water resilience, not only for human communities but also for our natural communities,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adel Hagekhalil, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said the agency will review the findings from the environmental impact report to determine “how best to invest our resources.” The water district provides water to 19 million people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The recent drought was a powerful indicator of just how vulnerable the State Water Project is — deliveries were so low last year that some Southern California communities could only get a fraction of the water they normally rely on,” Hagekhalil said. “Preventing this from happening again will take bold action and a clear recognition of the challenges we face.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11969648/tunnel-vision-gov-newsoms-ambitious-water-plan-divides-californians","authors":["byline_news_11969648"],"categories":["news_19906","news_8"],"tags":["news_33636","news_17601","news_20023","news_27626","news_33637"],"featImg":"news_11969657","label":"news"},"news_11966468":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11966468","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"news","id":"11966468","score":null,"sort":[1699214411000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"farmers-look-to-agave-for-spirits-to-help-weather-droughts-and-reduce-groundwater-use","title":"Farmers Look to Agave for Spirits to Help Weather Droughts and Reduce Groundwater Use","publishDate":1699214411,"format":"standard","headTitle":"Farmers Look to Agave for Spirits to Help Weather Droughts and Reduce Groundwater Use | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"news"},"content":"\u003cp>Leo Ortega started growing spiky blue agave plants on the arid hillsides around his Southern California home because his wife liked the way they looked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A decade later, his property is now dotted with thousands of what he and others hope is a promising new crop for the state following years of \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-droughts-climate-and-environment-e49c8c5c34ead7ef7f83b770082f20bc\">punishing drought\u003c/a> and a push to scale back on \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-groundwater-drought-farming-probation-hearing-38aa9bd2b7d991e6bd1000ec9d8ad771\">groundwater pumping\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 49-year-old mechanical engineer is one of a growing number of Californians planting agave to be harvested and used to make spirits, much like the way tequila and mezcal are made in Mexico. The trend is fueled by the need to find hardy crops that don’t need much water and a booming appetite for premium alcoholic beverages since the COVID-19 pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s attracted entrepreneurs such as Ortega, as well as some California farmers. They’re seeking to shift to more water-efficient crops and irrigation methods to avoid fallowing their fields with looming limits on how much groundwater they can pump, as well as more extreme weather patterns anticipated with climate change. Agave, unlike most other crops, thrives on almost no water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we were watering them, they didn’t really grow much, and the ones that weren’t watered were actually growing better,” Ortega said, walking past rows of the succulents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He is now investing in a distillery after his initial batches of spirits, made from Agave americana, sold for $160 a bottle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consumers started spending more on \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/business-entertainment-arts-and-entertainment-lifestyle-ebdeb1a7751354bf1a78b7eb461de3fa\">high-quality spirits\u003c/a> during the pandemic shutdowns, which spurred a rise in premium beverage products, said Erlinda A. Doherty, an agave spirits expert and consultant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Stuart Woolf, Central Valley farmer\"]‘I have been trying to figure out what is a crop that I can grow that is somewhat climate-resilient, drought-tolerant. … The amount of water I am giving them is so low, I don’t think I am ever going to have a problem.’[/pullquote]Tequila and mezcal were the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/commodity-markets-business-464e8a74c984d1acd65d81ac6df17c52\">second-fastest growing spirit\u003c/a> category in the country in 2022, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both are proprietary spirits under Mexican laws, which are recognized in U.S. trade agreements. Much like how \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/champagne-beer-intellectual-property-belgium-miller-09f27ee4a921c66e9605893c51fb9b91\">champagne\u003c/a> hails from a region of France, anything called tequila must contain at least 51% blue Weber agave and be distilled in Jalisco or a handful of other Mexican states. Mezcal can be made from a variety of agave types but must be produced in certain Mexican states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agave growers and distillers in California — as well as some in Texas and Arizona — are betting there is an appetite for more agave-based spirits even if they are produced outside of Mexico and not called tequila or mezcal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We seem to have this insatiable thirst for agave, so why not have a domestically grown supply?” Doherty said. “I am kind of bullish on it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alfonso Mojica Navarro, director of the Mexican Chamber of the Tequila Industry, said tequila has a lengthy history, global reputation for excellence and close connection with Mexican culture. While he didn’t comment specifically on California’s foray into agave spirits, he said he believes Mexico can respond to the growing demand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The tequila industry is concerned that each time there are more players trying to take advantage of tequila’s success by producing agave spirits, liqueurs or other beverages that allude to the Mexican drink, its origins and characteristics despite not being the same,” he said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agave isn’t grown on a large scale in California yet, and it would take years for that to happen. But spirits, made by cooking the plant’s core to produce sugars that are fermented, are proving popular, said Ventura Spirits owner Henry Tarmy, who distilled his first batch five years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve sold everything we’ve made,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much like Mexico has, California is taking steps to protect its nascent industry. The state legislature enacted a law last year requiring “California agave spirits” be made solely with plants grown in the state and without additives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A dozen growers and a handful of distillers also formed the California Agave Council last year, and the group has tripled in size since then, said Craig Reynolds, the founding director who planted agave in the Northern California community of Davis. He said those making agave spirits have a deep appreciation for Mexican tequila.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have about 45 member growers,” he said. “All of them want more plants.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"science_1982673,news_11940344,news_11925400\"]Agave takes little water but presents other challenges. The plant typically takes at least seven years to grow and is tough to harvest, and a mature plant can weigh hundreds of pounds. Once cut, it has to be grown all over again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, many see agave as a viable alternative as California — which supplies the bulk of the country’s produce — explores ways to cut back water use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-water-year-rain-reservoirs-b6385c05b6eb82495f3963e067e568e1\">record rain and snowfall\u003c/a> over the winter mostly ended a three-year drought in California, more dry periods are likely in store. The state enacted a law nearly a decade ago to regulate the pumping of groundwater after excessive pumping led some residents’ wells to run dry and the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/58e0c7bfe91442f79e304fbdc1bec95d/damage-sinking-land-costing-california-billions\">land to sink\u003c/a>. Scientists expect \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/climate-climate-change-droughts-storms-oregon-3570f775ee3007888cd651d37fcbd465\">extreme weather\u003c/a> patterns will become even more common as the planet warms, causing more drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stuart Woolf, who grows tomatoes and almonds in the state’s crop-rich Central Valley, said he started thinking about agave after estimating he’ll only be able to farm about 60% of his land in 20 years due to water limitations. And that’s despite investing in solar energy and groundwater recharge projects to protect the farm that has been in his family for generations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After trying out a test plot a few years ago, Woolf went on to plant some 200,000 agave on land he otherwise would have fallowed. Each acre of agave is taking only 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) of water a year — a tenth of what row crops demand and even less than pistachio and almond trees, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woolf and his wife Lisa gave a $100,000 donation to the University of California, Davis, which formed a research fund to look at the succulent’s varieties and its potential as a low-water crop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have been trying to figure out what is a crop that I can grow that is somewhat climate-resilient, drought-tolerant, so I can utilize our land,” Woolf said. “The amount of water I am giving them is so low, I don’t think I am ever going to have a problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":null,"status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1699221331,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":27,"wordCount":1176},"headData":{"title":"Farmers Look to Agave for Spirits to Help Weather Droughts and Reduce Groundwater Use | KQED","description":"Leo Ortega started growing spiky blue agave plants on the arid hillsides around his Southern California home because his wife liked the way they looked. A decade later, his property is now dotted with thousands of what he and others hope is a promising new crop for the state following years of punishing drought and a push","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Farmers Look to Agave for Spirits to Help Weather Droughts and Reduce Groundwater Use","datePublished":"2023-11-05T20:00:11.000Z","dateModified":"2023-11-05T21:55:31.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"Y","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"nprByline":"Amy Taxin\u003cbr>The Associated Press","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","showOnAuthorArchivePages":"No","articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11966468/farmers-look-to-agave-for-spirits-to-help-weather-droughts-and-reduce-groundwater-use","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Leo Ortega started growing spiky blue agave plants on the arid hillsides around his Southern California home because his wife liked the way they looked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A decade later, his property is now dotted with thousands of what he and others hope is a promising new crop for the state following years of \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-droughts-climate-and-environment-e49c8c5c34ead7ef7f83b770082f20bc\">punishing drought\u003c/a> and a push to scale back on \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-groundwater-drought-farming-probation-hearing-38aa9bd2b7d991e6bd1000ec9d8ad771\">groundwater pumping\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 49-year-old mechanical engineer is one of a growing number of Californians planting agave to be harvested and used to make spirits, much like the way tequila and mezcal are made in Mexico. The trend is fueled by the need to find hardy crops that don’t need much water and a booming appetite for premium alcoholic beverages since the COVID-19 pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s attracted entrepreneurs such as Ortega, as well as some California farmers. They’re seeking to shift to more water-efficient crops and irrigation methods to avoid fallowing their fields with looming limits on how much groundwater they can pump, as well as more extreme weather patterns anticipated with climate change. Agave, unlike most other crops, thrives on almost no water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we were watering them, they didn’t really grow much, and the ones that weren’t watered were actually growing better,” Ortega said, walking past rows of the succulents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He is now investing in a distillery after his initial batches of spirits, made from Agave americana, sold for $160 a bottle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consumers started spending more on \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/business-entertainment-arts-and-entertainment-lifestyle-ebdeb1a7751354bf1a78b7eb461de3fa\">high-quality spirits\u003c/a> during the pandemic shutdowns, which spurred a rise in premium beverage products, said Erlinda A. Doherty, an agave spirits expert and consultant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"‘I have been trying to figure out what is a crop that I can grow that is somewhat climate-resilient, drought-tolerant. … The amount of water I am giving them is so low, I don’t think I am ever going to have a problem.’","name":"pullquote","attributes":{"named":{"align":"right","size":"medium","citation":"Stuart Woolf, Central Valley farmer","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Tequila and mezcal were the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/commodity-markets-business-464e8a74c984d1acd65d81ac6df17c52\">second-fastest growing spirit\u003c/a> category in the country in 2022, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both are proprietary spirits under Mexican laws, which are recognized in U.S. trade agreements. Much like how \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/champagne-beer-intellectual-property-belgium-miller-09f27ee4a921c66e9605893c51fb9b91\">champagne\u003c/a> hails from a region of France, anything called tequila must contain at least 51% blue Weber agave and be distilled in Jalisco or a handful of other Mexican states. Mezcal can be made from a variety of agave types but must be produced in certain Mexican states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agave growers and distillers in California — as well as some in Texas and Arizona — are betting there is an appetite for more agave-based spirits even if they are produced outside of Mexico and not called tequila or mezcal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We seem to have this insatiable thirst for agave, so why not have a domestically grown supply?” Doherty said. “I am kind of bullish on it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alfonso Mojica Navarro, director of the Mexican Chamber of the Tequila Industry, said tequila has a lengthy history, global reputation for excellence and close connection with Mexican culture. While he didn’t comment specifically on California’s foray into agave spirits, he said he believes Mexico can respond to the growing demand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The tequila industry is concerned that each time there are more players trying to take advantage of tequila’s success by producing agave spirits, liqueurs or other beverages that allude to the Mexican drink, its origins and characteristics despite not being the same,” he said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agave isn’t grown on a large scale in California yet, and it would take years for that to happen. But spirits, made by cooking the plant’s core to produce sugars that are fermented, are proving popular, said Ventura Spirits owner Henry Tarmy, who distilled his first batch five years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve sold everything we’ve made,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much like Mexico has, California is taking steps to protect its nascent industry. The state legislature enacted a law last year requiring “California agave spirits” be made solely with plants grown in the state and without additives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A dozen growers and a handful of distillers also formed the California Agave Council last year, and the group has tripled in size since then, said Craig Reynolds, the founding director who planted agave in the Northern California community of Davis. He said those making agave spirits have a deep appreciation for Mexican tequila.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have about 45 member growers,” he said. “All of them want more plants.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"label":"Related Stories ","postid":"science_1982673,news_11940344,news_11925400"},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Agave takes little water but presents other challenges. The plant typically takes at least seven years to grow and is tough to harvest, and a mature plant can weigh hundreds of pounds. Once cut, it has to be grown all over again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, many see agave as a viable alternative as California — which supplies the bulk of the country’s produce — explores ways to cut back water use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-water-year-rain-reservoirs-b6385c05b6eb82495f3963e067e568e1\">record rain and snowfall\u003c/a> over the winter mostly ended a three-year drought in California, more dry periods are likely in store. The state enacted a law nearly a decade ago to regulate the pumping of groundwater after excessive pumping led some residents’ wells to run dry and the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/58e0c7bfe91442f79e304fbdc1bec95d/damage-sinking-land-costing-california-billions\">land to sink\u003c/a>. Scientists expect \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/climate-climate-change-droughts-storms-oregon-3570f775ee3007888cd651d37fcbd465\">extreme weather\u003c/a> patterns will become even more common as the planet warms, causing more drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stuart Woolf, who grows tomatoes and almonds in the state’s crop-rich Central Valley, said he started thinking about agave after estimating he’ll only be able to farm about 60% of his land in 20 years due to water limitations. And that’s despite investing in solar energy and groundwater recharge projects to protect the farm that has been in his family for generations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After trying out a test plot a few years ago, Woolf went on to plant some 200,000 agave on land he otherwise would have fallowed. Each acre of agave is taking only 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) of water a year — a tenth of what row crops demand and even less than pistachio and almond trees, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woolf and his wife Lisa gave a $100,000 donation to the University of California, Davis, which formed a research fund to look at the succulent’s varieties and its potential as a low-water crop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have been trying to figure out what is a crop that I can grow that is somewhat climate-resilient, drought-tolerant, so I can utilize our land,” Woolf said. “The amount of water I am giving them is so low, I don’t think I am ever going to have a problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11966468/farmers-look-to-agave-for-spirits-to-help-weather-droughts-and-reduce-groundwater-use","authors":["byline_news_11966468"],"categories":["news_31795","news_19906","news_8"],"tags":["news_33452","news_17601","news_5892"],"featImg":"news_11966483","label":"news"},"news_11952638":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11952638","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"news","id":"11952638","score":null,"sort":[1686340856000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"80-ranchers-ignored-emergency-water-orders-and-kept-pumping-will-tripling-the-fines-stop-them","title":"80 Ranchers Ignored Emergency Water Orders and Kept Pumping. Will Tripling the Fines Stop Them?","publishDate":1686340856,"format":"standard","headTitle":"80 Ranchers Ignored Emergency Water Orders and Kept Pumping. Will Tripling the Fines Stop Them? | KQED","labelTerm":{},"content":"\u003cp>When ranchers \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/08/shasta-river-water-standoff/\">violated an emergency order\u003c/a> to stop pumping water from the drought-plagued Shasta River last year, state officials fined them $4,000, or roughly $50 each. Now California legislators are weighing \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB460\">a bill that would triple fines for such infractions\u003c/a> — and could allow the penalty to climb higher than a million dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Authored by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, a Democrat from San Ramon, the bill cleared the Assembly in a 43-to-20 vote last week and is now awaiting discussion in Senate committees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposed legislation aims to give California’s water enforcers more muscle to act swiftly and levy larger penalties for water agencies, irrigation districts and landowners who violate state orders and policies by pumping from rivers and streams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='More On Water' link1='https://www.kqed.org/news/11931467/california-has-bold-plans-to-address-water-security-and-boost-supply-but-will-they-succeed,California Has Bold Plans to Address Water Security and Boost Supply']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bauer-Kahan introduced AB 460 after \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/11/california-ranchers-drought-fine/\">CalMatters reported\u003c/a> in November that the state had imposed minimal fines on about 80 Siskiyou County ranchers — served by the Shasta River Water Association — who had violated an emergency order to stop pumping. \u003ca href=\"https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/11517500/#parameterCode=00060&startDT=2022-08-16&endDT=2022-08-26\">The river’s flows plunged by more than half\u003c/a>, threatening ecosystems and rare fish such as salmon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet in a public demonstration of the state’s limited powers, the ranchers kept the pumps on for eight days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Paying the fines was worth it to them to take what they took, and that shows a real weakness in what we have done,” Bauer-Kahan said. “It was so clear that our law was not working.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The State Water Resources Control Board’s maximum fine under existing law is $500 per day. The state also can issue a cease and desist order, which carries maximum fines of $10,000 per day, but it requires a 20-day waiting period and allows the users to seek a public hearing. Such provisions allow the violations to continue for weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The board doesn’t have the tools to act quickly,” said Michael Kiparsky, water program director at the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment at UC Berkeley School of Law. “The fish don’t care if the lawyers are trying to figure out who’s right or wrong if they’re dead.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11952643\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1568px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2023/06/09/80-ranchers-ignored-emergency-water-orders-and-kept-pumping-will-tripling-the-fines-stop-them/082922-shasta-river-water-mhn-cm-02/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11952643\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11952643 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-02.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged white man in jeans and a t-shirt, with a baseball cap, stands next to an empty pond with farm buildings and fields in the background.\" width=\"1568\" height=\"1045\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-02.jpg 1568w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-02-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-02-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-02-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-02-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1568px) 100vw, 1568px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jim Scala, a rancher in Siskiyou County, looks out over his dry stock pond in Montague on Aug. 29, 2022. Scala and others defied a state order to stop pumping water from the Shasta River. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rick Lemos, a fifth-generation rancher and board member of the Shasta River Water Association, said the ranchers turned their pumps on last August because their cattle were at risk without more water. Costs from hauling water and buying hay were climbing, and the ranchers faced the prospect of selling off cattle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We could have kept going for $500 a day,” Lemos said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Had the Assembly bill been in force then, the ranchers could have faced daily fines between $1,500 and $10,000, plus $2,500 for every acre-foot of water diverted, which could reach more than $1,000,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Arron 'Troy' Hockaday, member, Karuk Tribal Council\"]‘The fine doesn’t fit the crime. What’s gonna stop them from doing it again this year, or next year? Or anytime they want?’[/pullquote]Lemos said if fines had reached $10,000 per day, “we definitely could have had to rethink it. That’s for damn sure.” Yet, he also added, “I’m not so sure we wouldn’t have done it again. When you got cattle out of water and you have no other options, what are you gonna do? “\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’ve got 5,000 head of cattle that are worth $1,200 apiece, and they’re starting to die, I mean, how much can you spend for eight or 10 days to remedy the problem?” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law would target landowners, water agencies and districts that take water from rivers and streams, not individual consumers who turn on their taps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sponsored by conservation groups — California Trout, the Planning and Conservation League and Trout Unlimited — the bill is also supported by the Karuk and Yurok Tribes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fine doesn’t fit the crime,” Karuk Tribal Council Member Arron “Troy” Hockaday said. “What’s gonna stop them from doing it again this year, or next year? Or anytime they want? I mean, you got 80 farmers only paying $50 apiece. They’re gonna keep doing it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11952642\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1568px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2023/06/09/80-ranchers-ignored-emergency-water-orders-and-kept-pumping-will-tripling-the-fines-stop-them/082922-shasta-river-water-mhn-cm-11/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11952642\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11952642 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-11.jpg\" alt=\"A larger Native man in a plaid button up shirt, with a long string of bright blue beads around his neck, stands in front of a river.\" width=\"1568\" height=\"1045\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-11.jpg 1568w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-11-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-11-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-11-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-11-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1568px) 100vw, 1568px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arron ‘Troy’ Hockaday, a council member of the Karuk Tribe, looks out on the Klamath River in Happy Camp. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But water providers, builders and agricultural groups oppose the bill, saying it is so broad that even those diverting water legally could be ensnared in the expanded water board powers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If (the bill) did nothing else but raise penalties, that would stop what went on on the Shasta,” said Kristopher Anderson, the Association of California Water Agencies’ legislative advocate. But he said, by expanding other authorities, “this bill systematically stacks the deck against water right holders in favor of the water board.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One new authority would be issuing interim relief orders to stop diversions or address potential harms. In urgent cases, these could take effect immediately “to prevent imminent or irreparable injury to other legal users of water, or to instream beneficial uses,” the bill says. Water users who ignore an interim relief order could face fines of $10,000 per day and $2,500 per acre-foot diverted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennifer Pierre, general manager of the State Water Contractors, an association of public water agencies, said vague definitions in the bill such as ‘irreparable injury’ create uncertainty over what water would actually be available to suppliers in the future, which could impede development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anderson added he would prefer to see enforcement run through the courts rather than state-issued fines — an avenue that the water board could have but did not pursue with the Siskiyou County ranchers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But water board officials said in the Shasta River case, seeking a court order would have kicked off a lengthy, resource-intensive battle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’ve got both parties who are going to be subject to extensive litigation and litigation costs,” said Yvonne West, director of the water board’s Office of Enforcement. “We thought we could react quicker … In hindsight, we see that we didn’t gain the compliance we were hoping for from those initial actions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11952641\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1568px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2023/06/09/80-ranchers-ignored-emergency-water-orders-and-kept-pumping-will-tripling-the-fines-stop-them/082922-shasta-river-water-mhn-cm-13/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11952641\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11952641\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-13.jpg\" alt=\"A river flowing between pine trees\" width=\"1568\" height=\"1045\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-13.jpg 1568w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-13-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-13-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-13-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-13-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1568px) 100vw, 1568px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Klamath River flows outside Happy Camp in August 2022. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bauer-Kahan’s bill is one of several taking aim at the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#2104d2c3-4a7a-4116-b1c9-3eedc45d49c7\">byzantine, Gold Rush-era water rights system\u003c/a> that state analysts warn has \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/handouts/resources/2009/water_rights_issues_perspectives_031009.pdf\">promised more water than is available (PDF)\u003c/a>. The system, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/about_us/water_boards_structure/history_water_rights.html\">establishes priority\u003c/a> among users, is facing mounting criticism for its history of inequality and exclusion of Native peoples and people of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1337\">Another bill\u003c/a> would expand the state’s powers to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/commentary/2023/04/california-water-rights-battle-legislature/\">curtail pumping from rivers and streams\u003c/a> even by water users with claims that predate the \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/board_info/water_rights_process.html\">state’s water rights law\u003c/a>, enacted in 1914. \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB389\">A third bill\u003c/a> would allow the board to investigate the legitimacy of senior water rights claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All three face opposition from builders, water providers and agriculture. So far they have cleared their houses of origin and are continuing through the Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California water watchers say it’s critical to bolster the state’s power to enforce water laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Is the genie out of the bottle now?” Berkeley’s Kiparsky asked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What happens during the next drought now that it’s been very publicly demonstrated that water users can in essence treat the water board’s enforcement actions as an additional, and sometimes very modest, cost of doing business?”\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Proposed legislation would expand California's authority to fine water scofflaws. But even if the cost reached $10,000 per day, some ranchers say they might still violate the rules.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1686340866,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":32,"wordCount":1385},"headData":{"title":"80 Ranchers Ignored Emergency Water Orders and Kept Pumping. Will Tripling the Fines Stop Them? | KQED","description":"Proposed legislation would expand California's authority to fine water scofflaws. But even if the cost reached $10,000 per day, some ranchers say they might still violate the rules.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"80 Ranchers Ignored Emergency Water Orders and Kept Pumping. Will Tripling the Fines Stop Them?","datePublished":"2023-06-09T20:00:56.000Z","dateModified":"2023-06-09T20:01:06.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"Y","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"source":"CalMatters","sourceUrl":"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/06/california-water-fines/","nprByline":"\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/author/rachel-becker/\">Rachel Becker\u003c/a>","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","showOnAuthorArchivePages":"No","articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11952638/80-ranchers-ignored-emergency-water-orders-and-kept-pumping-will-tripling-the-fines-stop-them","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When ranchers \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/08/shasta-river-water-standoff/\">violated an emergency order\u003c/a> to stop pumping water from the drought-plagued Shasta River last year, state officials fined them $4,000, or roughly $50 each. Now California legislators are weighing \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB460\">a bill that would triple fines for such infractions\u003c/a> — and could allow the penalty to climb higher than a million dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Authored by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, a Democrat from San Ramon, the bill cleared the Assembly in a 43-to-20 vote last week and is now awaiting discussion in Senate committees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposed legislation aims to give California’s water enforcers more muscle to act swiftly and levy larger penalties for water agencies, irrigation districts and landowners who violate state orders and policies by pumping from rivers and streams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"label":"More On Water ","link1":"https://www.kqed.org/news/11931467/california-has-bold-plans-to-address-water-security-and-boost-supply-but-will-they-succeed,California Has Bold Plans to Address Water Security and Boost Supply"},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bauer-Kahan introduced AB 460 after \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/11/california-ranchers-drought-fine/\">CalMatters reported\u003c/a> in November that the state had imposed minimal fines on about 80 Siskiyou County ranchers — served by the Shasta River Water Association — who had violated an emergency order to stop pumping. \u003ca href=\"https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/11517500/#parameterCode=00060&startDT=2022-08-16&endDT=2022-08-26\">The river’s flows plunged by more than half\u003c/a>, threatening ecosystems and rare fish such as salmon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet in a public demonstration of the state’s limited powers, the ranchers kept the pumps on for eight days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Paying the fines was worth it to them to take what they took, and that shows a real weakness in what we have done,” Bauer-Kahan said. “It was so clear that our law was not working.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The State Water Resources Control Board’s maximum fine under existing law is $500 per day. The state also can issue a cease and desist order, which carries maximum fines of $10,000 per day, but it requires a 20-day waiting period and allows the users to seek a public hearing. Such provisions allow the violations to continue for weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The board doesn’t have the tools to act quickly,” said Michael Kiparsky, water program director at the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment at UC Berkeley School of Law. “The fish don’t care if the lawyers are trying to figure out who’s right or wrong if they’re dead.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11952643\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1568px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2023/06/09/80-ranchers-ignored-emergency-water-orders-and-kept-pumping-will-tripling-the-fines-stop-them/082922-shasta-river-water-mhn-cm-02/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11952643\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11952643 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-02.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged white man in jeans and a t-shirt, with a baseball cap, stands next to an empty pond with farm buildings and fields in the background.\" width=\"1568\" height=\"1045\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-02.jpg 1568w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-02-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-02-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-02-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-02-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1568px) 100vw, 1568px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jim Scala, a rancher in Siskiyou County, looks out over his dry stock pond in Montague on Aug. 29, 2022. Scala and others defied a state order to stop pumping water from the Shasta River. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rick Lemos, a fifth-generation rancher and board member of the Shasta River Water Association, said the ranchers turned their pumps on last August because their cattle were at risk without more water. Costs from hauling water and buying hay were climbing, and the ranchers faced the prospect of selling off cattle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We could have kept going for $500 a day,” Lemos said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Had the Assembly bill been in force then, the ranchers could have faced daily fines between $1,500 and $10,000, plus $2,500 for every acre-foot of water diverted, which could reach more than $1,000,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"‘The fine doesn’t fit the crime. What’s gonna stop them from doing it again this year, or next year? Or anytime they want?’","name":"pullquote","attributes":{"named":{"size":"medium","align":"right","citation":"Arron 'Troy' Hockaday, member, Karuk Tribal Council","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Lemos said if fines had reached $10,000 per day, “we definitely could have had to rethink it. That’s for damn sure.” Yet, he also added, “I’m not so sure we wouldn’t have done it again. When you got cattle out of water and you have no other options, what are you gonna do? “\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’ve got 5,000 head of cattle that are worth $1,200 apiece, and they’re starting to die, I mean, how much can you spend for eight or 10 days to remedy the problem?” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law would target landowners, water agencies and districts that take water from rivers and streams, not individual consumers who turn on their taps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sponsored by conservation groups — California Trout, the Planning and Conservation League and Trout Unlimited — the bill is also supported by the Karuk and Yurok Tribes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fine doesn’t fit the crime,” Karuk Tribal Council Member Arron “Troy” Hockaday said. “What’s gonna stop them from doing it again this year, or next year? Or anytime they want? I mean, you got 80 farmers only paying $50 apiece. They’re gonna keep doing it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11952642\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1568px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2023/06/09/80-ranchers-ignored-emergency-water-orders-and-kept-pumping-will-tripling-the-fines-stop-them/082922-shasta-river-water-mhn-cm-11/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11952642\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11952642 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-11.jpg\" alt=\"A larger Native man in a plaid button up shirt, with a long string of bright blue beads around his neck, stands in front of a river.\" width=\"1568\" height=\"1045\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-11.jpg 1568w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-11-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-11-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-11-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-11-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1568px) 100vw, 1568px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arron ‘Troy’ Hockaday, a council member of the Karuk Tribe, looks out on the Klamath River in Happy Camp. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But water providers, builders and agricultural groups oppose the bill, saying it is so broad that even those diverting water legally could be ensnared in the expanded water board powers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If (the bill) did nothing else but raise penalties, that would stop what went on on the Shasta,” said Kristopher Anderson, the Association of California Water Agencies’ legislative advocate. But he said, by expanding other authorities, “this bill systematically stacks the deck against water right holders in favor of the water board.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One new authority would be issuing interim relief orders to stop diversions or address potential harms. In urgent cases, these could take effect immediately “to prevent imminent or irreparable injury to other legal users of water, or to instream beneficial uses,” the bill says. Water users who ignore an interim relief order could face fines of $10,000 per day and $2,500 per acre-foot diverted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennifer Pierre, general manager of the State Water Contractors, an association of public water agencies, said vague definitions in the bill such as ‘irreparable injury’ create uncertainty over what water would actually be available to suppliers in the future, which could impede development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anderson added he would prefer to see enforcement run through the courts rather than state-issued fines — an avenue that the water board could have but did not pursue with the Siskiyou County ranchers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But water board officials said in the Shasta River case, seeking a court order would have kicked off a lengthy, resource-intensive battle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’ve got both parties who are going to be subject to extensive litigation and litigation costs,” said Yvonne West, director of the water board’s Office of Enforcement. “We thought we could react quicker … In hindsight, we see that we didn’t gain the compliance we were hoping for from those initial actions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11952641\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1568px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2023/06/09/80-ranchers-ignored-emergency-water-orders-and-kept-pumping-will-tripling-the-fines-stop-them/082922-shasta-river-water-mhn-cm-13/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11952641\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11952641\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-13.jpg\" alt=\"A river flowing between pine trees\" width=\"1568\" height=\"1045\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-13.jpg 1568w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-13-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-13-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-13-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/082922-SHASTA-RIVER-WATER-MHN-CM-13-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1568px) 100vw, 1568px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Klamath River flows outside Happy Camp in August 2022. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bauer-Kahan’s bill is one of several taking aim at the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#2104d2c3-4a7a-4116-b1c9-3eedc45d49c7\">byzantine, Gold Rush-era water rights system\u003c/a> that state analysts warn has \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/handouts/resources/2009/water_rights_issues_perspectives_031009.pdf\">promised more water than is available (PDF)\u003c/a>. The system, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/about_us/water_boards_structure/history_water_rights.html\">establishes priority\u003c/a> among users, is facing mounting criticism for its history of inequality and exclusion of Native peoples and people of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1337\">Another bill\u003c/a> would expand the state’s powers to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/commentary/2023/04/california-water-rights-battle-legislature/\">curtail pumping from rivers and streams\u003c/a> even by water users with claims that predate the \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/board_info/water_rights_process.html\">state’s water rights law\u003c/a>, enacted in 1914. \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB389\">A third bill\u003c/a> would allow the board to investigate the legitimacy of senior water rights claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All three face opposition from builders, water providers and agriculture. So far they have cleared their houses of origin and are continuing through the Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California water watchers say it’s critical to bolster the state’s power to enforce water laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Is the genie out of the bottle now?” Berkeley’s Kiparsky asked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What happens during the next drought now that it’s been very publicly demonstrated that water users can in essence treat the water board’s enforcement actions as an additional, and sometimes very modest, cost of doing business?”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11952638/80-ranchers-ignored-emergency-water-orders-and-kept-pumping-will-tripling-the-fines-stop-them","authors":["byline_news_11952638"],"categories":["news_8"],"tags":["news_29943","news_18334","news_17601","news_31010"],"affiliates":["news_18481"],"featImg":"news_11952644","label":"source_news_11952638"},"news_11931467":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11931467","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"news","id":"11931467","score":null,"sort":[1667944759000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"california-has-bold-plans-to-address-water-security-and-boost-supply-but-will-they-succeed","title":"California Has Bold Plans to Address Water Security and Boost Supply — but Will They Succeed?","publishDate":1667944759,"format":"standard","headTitle":"CALmatters | KQED News","labelTerm":{"term":18481,"site":"news"},"content":"\u003cp>Over and over again, drought launches California into a familiar scramble to provide enough water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cities and towns \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/06/california-water-shortage/\">call for conservation and brace for shortages\u003c/a>. Growers \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/05/sacramento-valley-water-drought/\">fallow fields\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/08/shasta-river-water-standoff/\">ranchers sell cows\u003c/a>. And \u003ca href=\"https://mydrywell.water.ca.gov/report/\">thousands of people\u003c/a> discover that they \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/08/california-groundwater-dry/\">can’t squeeze another drop from their wells\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So where can California get enough water to survive the latest dry stretch — and the next one, and the next?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Can it pump more water from the salty Pacific Ocean? Treat waste flushed down toilets and washed down drains? Capture runoff that flows off streets into storm drains? Tow Antarctic icebergs to Los Angeles?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Newsom administration \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/08/newsom-strategy-california-water-supply/\">unveiled a road map for bolstering the state water supply\u003c/a>. But the plan — which has few details, distant deadlines and scant plans for agriculture — \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-09-04/newsom-water-supply-strategy-falls-short\">has been met with criticism\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every time another drought rolls around, an array of suggestions rise to the surface. We take a look at the strategies that could work — along with the more outlandish ones — and the obstacles they face.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#75652c02-4d28-4b1a-85fc-4d4883f3d991\">Recycle more water\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Turning sewage into water is the Golden State equivalent of turning water into wine, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/documents/direct_potable_reuse/dprframewkseced.pdf\">California has been doing it for decades (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians used about \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/recycled_water/docs/2022/volumetric-infographic-2021.pdf\">732,000 acre-feet of recycled water (PDF)\u003c/a> in 2021. That’s almost two-thirds of the water that the state’s major aqueduct funneled south in dry 2021 — equivalent to the amount used by roughly 2.6 million households.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/documents/direct_potable_reuse/dprframewkseced.pdf\">None of it flows directly from “toilet to tap” (PDF).\u003c/a> But the State Water Resources Control Board is \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/docs/2022/nwri-ep-finalmemoprelimfind.pdf\">developing regulations for direct potable reuse (PDF)\u003c/a> of highly treated wastewater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, much of California’s recycled water is used for non-drinking purposes, like irrigating landscapes, golf courses and crops. It also refills underground stores that provide drinking water. Southern California has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/documents/direct_potable_reuse/dprframewkseced.pdf\">replenishing local groundwater supplies (PDF)\u003c/a> with recycled wastewater since the 1960s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11929864 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/10/RS51691_043_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom called for \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/-/media/CNRA-Website/Files/Initiatives/Water-Resilience/CA-Water-Supply-Strategy.pdf\">ramping up recycled water use (PDF)\u003c/a> by 2030 by \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/docs/2022/nwri-ep-finalmemoprelimfind.pdf\">roughly 9% (PDF)\u003c/a> from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/recycled_water/docs/2022/volumetric-infographic-2021.pdf\">amount (PDF)\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/docs/2022/nwri-ep-finalmemoprelimfind.pdf\">used in 2021 (PDF)\u003c/a>, rising to 1.8 million acre-feet by 2040. Critics, however, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-09-04/newsom-water-supply-strategy-falls-short\">voiced disappointment with the target’s lack of ambition\u003c/a>, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/board_decisions/adopted_orders/resolutions/2009/rs2009_0011_recyclewater.pdf\">falls short (PDF)\u003c/a> of previous \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/docs/2022/nwri-ep-finalmemoprelimfind.pdf\">state goals (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, water suppliers are spending big to \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/docs/2022/nwri-ep-finalmemoprelimfind.pdf\">build out water recycling facilities (PDF)\u003c/a> in \u003ca href=\"https://www.valleywater.org/project-updates/purified-water-project-ensuring-reliable-groundwater-supply\">Northern\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/water/pdf/purewater/2014/fs_purewater.pdf\">Southern (PDF)\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.mwdh2o.com/building-local-supplies/pure-water-southern-california/\">California (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there’s a catch: As Californians replace their water-guzzling household appliances with more thrifty devices and let the yellow mellow before flushing, the waste stream becomes more concentrated — which could lead \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-0529-2\">to higher treatment costs\u003c/a>, more contaminants and less recycled water overall.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#488fc469-bd9f-4571-8b55-456998d64136\">More desalination\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Desalination is an oft-touted fix for water woes in California, with its ample shoreline. But in practice, \u003ca href=\"https://theconversation.com/desalinating-seawater-sounds-easy-but-there-are-cheaper-and-more-sustainable-ways-to-meet-peoples-water-needs-184919\">environmental concerns and costs\u003c/a> have limited \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2019/09/f66/73355-7.pdf\">the energy-intensive practice \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/docs/2022/nwri-ep-finalmemoprelimfind.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four ocean water desalination facilities in California produce nearly \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/safedrinkingwaterplan/docs/ExecSumPlan_Report.pdf#page=66\">60,000 acre-feet of drinking water \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/docs/2022/nwri-ep-finalmemoprelimfind.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>. More\u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/ocean/desalination/#existing-facilities\"> provide water for industries or other facilities\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New desalination proposals have been rife with controversy. The California Coastal Commission in 2022\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/05/california-desalination-plant-coastal-commission/\"> rejected a seawater desalination\u003c/a> plant in Huntington Beach, with state analysts warning of high costs, a lack of local demand and risks to marine life. But just months later, the commission pivoted, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/10/desalination-plants-california/\">greenlighting a plant in Orange County’s Dana Point\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11931480\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2121px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11931480\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-610327538.jpg\" alt=\"A tangle of pipes at a desalination plant.\" width=\"2121\" height=\"1414\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-610327538.jpg 2121w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-610327538-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-610327538-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-610327538-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-610327538-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-610327538-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-610327538-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2121px) 100vw, 2121px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Located in San Diego County, at the Encina Power Station, the Claude \"Bud\" Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant is the largest salt water desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere and provides 50 million gallons of desalinated seawater per day. \u003ccite>(Reed Kaestner/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A lesser-known but rapidly growing strategy is brackish water desalination, which cleans up salty supplies, such as from groundwater, that can then be used for \u003ca href=\"https://www.chinodesalter.org/97/Facilities\">drinking water. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 23 of these plants have the capacity to produce nearly 140,000 acre-feet of water in a year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/safedrinkingwaterplan/docs/ExecSumPlan_Report.pdf#page=66\">based on a 2013 analysis (PDF). \u003c/a>They use \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/California-Water-Plan/Docs/RMS/2016/09_Desalination_July2016.pdf\">less energy \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/safedrinkingwaterplan/docs/ExecSumPlan_Report.pdf#page=66\">(PDF)\u003c/a> than their seawater counterparts.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#cf07019c-d4ca-4f14-bd54-6235cabc9680\">Capture stormwater runoff\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The rainwater and spillover from sprinklers that flows off roads, yards and rooftops — much of it eventually emptying into waterways or the ocean — could help boost California’s water supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state's urban areas shed 770,000 to 3.9 million acre-feet of runoff a year that could be captured, according to the Pacific Institute. That’s enough to supply between 2.7 million and 13.7 million households for a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The potential is highest in Southern California, which has lots of pavement that sends rainwater and irrigation runoff into storm drains. Collecting this runoff and feeding it into aquifers — or eventually treating it and sending it to taps — would avoid wasting it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some local agencies have been corralling stormwater to replenish aquifers for years, \u003ca href=\"https://data.ca.gov/dataset/stormwater-projects\">with dozens more projects in the works\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnofloodcontrol.org/\">Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District\u003c/a>, for instance, captures runoff across 400 square miles in Fresno County. The water is used to \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnofloodcontrol.org/water-resources/groundwater-recharge/\">fill more than 150 ponds\u003c/a>, where it trickles through the soil to refill groundwater stores. In bone-dry 2021, storm flows \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnofloodcontrol.org/water-resources/groundwater-recharge/\">accounted for almost all of the district’s groundwater recharge\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Monica has been a leader in treating urban runoff, and plans to upgrade a \u003ca href=\"https://www.smgov.net/Departments/PublicWorks/ContentCivEng.aspx?id=54194\">recycling facility\u003c/a> built near its famous pier more than 20 years ago. The plan is \u003ca href=\"https://www.santamonica.gov/sustainable-water-infrastructure-project-swip\">to treat the collected runoff and stormwater\u003c/a> so it’s clean enough to be injected directly into Santa Monica’s groundwater basin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">Strategies for using stormwater (PDF)\u003c/a> also include installing permeable pavement in yards and communities and building basins that let it drain into the soil instead of flowing into storm drains or streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But barriers remain to capturing more of the flows. These \u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">include high costs and a lack of funding \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>, concerns about impacts to water quality and \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-03-04/red-tape-ensnares-los-angeles-storm-water-capture-plan\">lengthy planning and approval processes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#f3d82891-5107-4592-965a-88d126a4dd67\">Transform California agriculture\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.ers.usda.gov/faqs/#Q1\">agriculture is the most productive\u003c/a> in the country. But it also drinks up about \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/Programs/Water-Use-And-Efficiency/Agricultural-Water-Use-Efficiency\">80% of the developed water used in the state\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How much water is used by farms changes with the weather from year to year. But \u003ca href=\"https://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/PI_Water_Use_Trends.pdf\">it remained generally flat \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a> between the 1980s and 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The only real way to reduce water use further in agriculture is to grow less food and farm products, or take more agricultural land out of production,” said Danny Merkley, water resources director with the California Farm Bureau Federation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almonds and pistachios are the \u003ca href=\"https://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CA-Ag-Water-Use-1.pdf\">fourth most water-intensive crops in California \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>, after rice, alfalfa and irrigated pasture, according to the Pacific Institute. \u003ca href=\"https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/California/Publications/Specialty_and_Other_Releases/Almond/Forecast/202205almpd.pdf\">Nut acreage \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a> has \u003ca href=\"https://wsm.ucmerced.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2021-Drought-Impact-Assessment_20210224.pdf\">soared in the past 10 years \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>, but what that means for water is less clear: State data lags and there’s no real-time monitoring of agricultural water use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11931482\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11931482\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS10081_80999037-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Two cyclists ride by an irrigation canal.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS10081_80999037-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS10081_80999037-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS10081_80999037-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS10081_80999037-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS10081_80999037-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS10081_80999037-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS10081_80999037-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The California Aqueduct carries water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to southern California. \u003ccite>(David McNew/ Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>More changes are coming, with \u003ca href=\"https://www.climate.gov/news-features/feed/evaporative-demand-increase-across-lower-48-means-less-water-supplies-drier\">climate change parching crops\u003c/a> and state law calling for \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/08/california-groundwater-dry/\">sustainable groundwater management.\u003c/a> Complying with California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act could require 500,000 to 1 million acres of prime agricultural land to come out of production in the San Joaquin Valley, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/exploring-the-potential-for-water-limited-agriculture-in-the-san-joaquin-valley/\">according to the Public Policy Institute of California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has \u003ca href=\"https://www.conservation.ca.gov/dlrp/grant-programs/Pages/Multibenefit-Land-Repurposing-Program.aspx\">earmarked $110 million over three years\u003c/a> to repurpose agricultural land and put it toward other uses, such as groundwater recharge and habitat restoration. \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2022/Oct-22/State-Collaborates-with-Farmers-to-Conserve-Water-Provide-Habitat-for-Migratory-Birds\">Other funding is provided to growers who fallow their fields\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growers also could opt for \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/exploring-the-potential-for-water-limited-agriculture-in-the-san-joaquin-valley/\">crops grown during the rainy season\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/09/california-drought-farmers/\">breed more drought-tolerant varieties\u003c/a>. And \u003ca href=\"https://calag.ucanr.edu/Archive/?article=ca.v066n02p55\">leaving crop residues in fields\u003c/a> and reducing tillage can allow soil to retain more water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More efficient irrigation systems help, too. But the Farm Bureau’s Merkley said making water go further is growing more difficult and smaller growers can struggle to pay for it. Also, an international team of researchers warned that increased efficiency \u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aat9314\">must be accompanied by robust monitoring and caps on water extractions\u003c/a>. Otherwise, they wrote, it can backfire by prompting planting of more acreage with more water-intensive crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#83001060-ef40-47ba-aa25-0f0dc9762049\">Tear out lawns\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2022/Sep-22/DWR-Takes-Actions-to-Support-Future-Water-Supply-Strategy#:~:text=California%20also%20recently%20took%20additional,and%2042%20gallons%20by%202030.\">About half of water used in cities and towns\u003c/a> is used outdoors for washing cars, hosing down sidewalks and irrigating \u003ca href=\"https://ucanr.edu/sites/UrbanHort/Turfgrass_Management\">roughly 4 million acres of turf\u003c/a>. Turf drinks up the most water in any month, in any part of California, of any plant analyzed in \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/conservation_portal/regs/docs/2022/trees-and-parklands-preface.pdf\">a state report \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tearing out turf and replacing it with more drought-tolerant plants could save between 1 million and 1.5 million acre-feet per year, with \u003ca href=\"https://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/PI_California_Untapped_Urban_Water_Potential_2022-1.pdf\">the largest savings coming from residences \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>, the Pacific Institute estimates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California temporarily banned watering decorative, non-functional turf at businesses and institutions under emergency \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/press_room/press_releases/2022/pr06142022-new-statewide-emergency-conservation-regulation-in-effect.pdf\">regulations adopted in May 2022 \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>, and is reviving rebates for tearing out turf.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11931484\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2127px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11931484\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1335769913.jpg\" alt=\"A sprinkler with multiple streams watering green grass.\" width=\"2127\" height=\"1409\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1335769913.jpg 2127w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1335769913-800x530.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1335769913-1020x676.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1335769913-160x106.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1335769913-1536x1018.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1335769913-2048x1357.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1335769913-1920x1272.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2127px) 100vw, 2127px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Pacific Institute estimates that tearing out turf and replacing it with more drought-tolerant plants could save between 1 million and 1.5 million acre-feet per year. \u003ccite>(Shawn Waldron/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A statewide turf replacement program that began during the last drought tapped out in June 2020 after putting more than $20.5 million toward helping people replace their lawns. Local water providers \u003ca href=\"https://socalwatersmart.com/en/residential/rebates/available-rebates/turf-replacement-program/\">continued their own multi-million dollar efforts\u003c/a>, however, and the state put \u003ca href=\"https://www.ebudget.ca.gov/2022-23/pdf/Enacted/GovernorsBudget/3000/3860.pdf\">$75 million in funding toward rebates in the state’s 2022-2023 \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a> budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1752-1688.12901\">The Metropolitan Water District\u003c/a> has spent more than $350 million coaxing Southern Californians to convert more than 200 million square feet of turf. And there is a ripple effect, with \u003ca href=\"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1752-1688.12901\">some of their neighbors tearing out their lawns\u003c/a>, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there are limits to peer pressure. \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-08-22/kim-kardashian-kevin-hart-california-drought-water-waste\">Celebrities\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Repeat-offenders-among-hundreds-of-East-Bay-17534485.php\">others\u003c/a> continue to be called out for over-watering their yards, and urban water use remains high, with cities and towns, particularly in Southern California, failing to meet Newsom’s goal to cut their water use by 15%.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#6a1996dc-c975-4a14-90b2-d5390efce09f\">Replumb California\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A controversial \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/06/california-water-delta-tunnel/\">plan to replumb the California Delta\u003c/a> — decades in the making — would funnel water from new intakes north of the delta as well as existing south Delta pumps, sending hundreds of thousands more acre-feet of water south instead of allowing it to flow out to the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the state’s environmental review \u003ca href=\"https://www.deltaconveyanceproject.com/read-the-document\">has raised serious concerns\u003c/a> that the tunnel project could harm \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/07/delta-tunnel-water-report/\">endangered salmon and other species\u003c/a>. And, if eventually approved, it would take decades to complete and cost billions of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, California’s existing networks of pipes, aqueducts and canals lose precious supplies to leaks and evaporation. Some strategies have emerged to reduce these losses, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.iid.com/water/library/all-american-canal-lining-project\">lining canals\u003c/a> — \u003ca href=\"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12665-019-8487-6\">which can also impede groundwater recharge\u003c/a> — or \u003ca href=\"https://theconversation.com/first-solar-canal-project-is-a-win-for-water-energy-air-and-climate-in-california-177433\">covering them with solar panels\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In cities and towns, water suppliers \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/docs/rulemaking/isor.pdf\">lose roughly 316,000 acre-feet of water \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a> every year through leaks in their vast mazes of pipes. The state set new standards requiring water providers to meet loss targets starting in 2028, which could save about 88,000 acre-feet a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#4fb7112e-4f1c-4711-a854-ef5d9b0583c6\">Store more water in reservoirs\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cdiv class=\"explainer-card__content\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-cal-explainers-card\">\n\u003cp>Reservoirs aren’t the field of dreams: Even when we build them, the water doesn’t necessarily come. Statewide reservoir \u003ca href=\"https://cww.water.ca.gov/service/document/hydroreport?_=1664980284640\">storage plunged to 69% below average\u003c/a> by the end of September 2022, on the heels of the state’s driest \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/09/california-drought-likely-to-continue/\">three-year stretch on record\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://cwc.ca.gov/Water-Storage/WSIP-Project-Review-Portal\">Proposition 1\u003c/a>, approved in 2014, set aside $2.7 billion to fund water storage projects. The three projects eligible to receive funding, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2022-05-31/drought-resurrects-plan-for-controversial-reservoir\">which include the controversial Sites reservoir,\u003c/a> would increase storage capacity by more than 1.75 million acre-feet, enough to supply more than 6 million households.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How much they would increase the water supply available each year, however, is unclear. Lengthy droughts deplete reservoir storage, and \"the average volume of new water from these facilities is small, and costs are high,\" \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/californias-water-storing-water-november-2018.pdf\">the Public Policy Institute of California \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a> warned in 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11931486\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2190px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11931486\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1182796092.jpg\" alt=\"A view of Shasta Dam, a dam wall with big blue reservoir of Shasta lake behind it and treelined hills in the background.\" width=\"2190\" height=\"1369\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1182796092.jpg 2190w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1182796092-800x500.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1182796092-1020x638.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1182796092-160x100.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1182796092-1536x960.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1182796092-2048x1280.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1182796092-1920x1200.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2190px) 100vw, 2190px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Statewide reservoir storage plunged to 69% below average by the end of Sept. 2022, on the heels of the state’s driest 3-year stretch on record. \u003ccite>(Wenli Li/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Many reservoirs in California do double duty as flood control which means that space for potential floods \u003ca href=\"https://cw3e.ucsd.edu/firo/\">must be maintained even in dry years\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But state, federal and local water managers are working with \u003ca href=\"https://cw3e.ucsd.edu/firo/\">scientists\u003c/a> on strategies to reduce flood risk while reserving more water in California’s reservoirs. Water managers at Lake Mendocino, for instance, are incorporating \u003ca href=\"https://www.drought.gov/regional-activities/forecast-informed-reservoir-operations-firo\">new weather forecasting\u003c/a> tools to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/firo\">update decades-old guidelines\u003c/a> governing when to hold onto water and when to release it. The strategy increased the lake’s storage by \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/-/media/CNRA-Website/Files/Initiatives/Water-Resilience/CA-WRP-Progress-Report.pdf\">nearly 20% in 2020, with most of the water going to agriculture \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#0469ec6c-04dc-4175-8b42-09fb00a29cb2\">Recharge groundwater basins\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s underground aquifers can hold vastly more water than its reservoirs — \u003ca href=\"https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/ff075c25b77e4b1d95ce86a82bf0fe96\">between 850 million and 1.3 billion acre-feet\u003c/a> of capacity below ground, compared to \u003ca href=\"https://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=STORSUM\">about 38.1 million acre-feet above\u003c/a> ground, according to the Department of Water Resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local districts have been carefully tending groundwater for decades. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.ocwd.com/gwrs/the-process/process-steps/water-delivery/\">Orange County Water District\u003c/a>, for instance, pumps highly treated water underground to keep seawater at bay and to replenish local drinking-water stores. In the Southern San Joaquin Valley, \u003ca href=\"https://www.law.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Groundwater-Recharge-for-a-Regional-Water-Bank-Kern-Water-Bank-Kern-County-California.pdf\">water suppliers\u003c/a> funnel \u003ca href=\"https://www.kwb.org/groundwater-sustainability/recharge-recovery/\">surface water into underground storage\u003c/a> at the controversial Kern Water Bank, largely for agricultural irrigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Newsom administration has called for increasing groundwater recharge yearly by at least 500,000 acre-feet. But ongoing challenges remain to widespread groundwater recharge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot more empty aquifers than there are unclaimed sources of water in California,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.law.berkeley.edu/research/clee/about/people/michael-kiparsky/\">Michael Kiparsky\u003c/a>, Water Program Director at the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at UC Berkeley School of Law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not just about the amount of water, Kiparsky said, it’s also about the logistics. California will need to ensure there’s enough capacity \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/how-much-water-is-available-for-groundwater-recharge/\">to quickly move flood flows to the right basins\u003c/a> for recharge during California’s brief rainy season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unless that bottleneck is widened, plans to end the overdraft of depleted aquifers in the San Joaquin Valley are calling for more groundwater recharge than is likely realistic, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/ppic-review-of-groundwater-sustainability-plans-in-the-san-joaquin-valley.pdf\">according to the Public Policy Institute of California (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#b41cece5-574f-4534-a444-19e07691d13f\">Control greenhouse gases\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Climate change is \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4386383/\">worsening droughts\u003c/a> and is expected to fuel even \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0140-y\">more extreme swings from dry to deluge\u003c/a>. The Newsom administration warns that climate change could deplete state water supplies \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/-/media/CNRA-Website/Files/Initiatives/Water-Resilience/CA-Water-Supply-Strategy.pdf\">by up to 10% by 2040 \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/ppic-review-of-groundwater-sustainability-plans-in-the-san-joaquin-valley.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curbing use of fossil fuels globally can blunt some of the severity of future droughts, researchers \u003ca href=\"https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3115/nasa-drought-research-shows-value-of-both-climate-mitigation-and-adaptation/\">reported\u003c/a>. But even California, which prides itself on its green image, will need to pick up the pace to meet state goals for cutting greenhouse gases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11931488\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11931488\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS15682_DSC_0403-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Kids splashing around in an outdoor splash pad.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1152\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS15682_DSC_0403-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS15682_DSC_0403-qut-800x480.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS15682_DSC_0403-qut-1020x612.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS15682_DSC_0403-qut-160x96.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS15682_DSC_0403-qut-1536x922.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Climate change is worsening droughts and is expected to fuel even more extreme swings from dry to deluge. The Newsom administration warns that climate change could deplete state water supplies by up to 10% by 2040. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Much larger reductions are needed to reach the ambitious 2030 target — an additional 40% reduction below the original 2020 limit,” \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/news/latest-state-greenhouse-gas-inventory-shows-emissions-continue-drop-below-2020-target\">Air Resources Board Chair Liane Randolph said in July, 2021. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s clean air regulators are ramping up their efforts \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/09/california-climate-change-plan/\">in the state’s updated climate roadmap\u003c/a>. But parts of the plan, including its reliance on technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or capture it from smokestacks, remain contentious.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#2104d2c3-4a7a-4116-b1c9-3eedc45d49c7\">Reform water rights\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s water supplies are governed by an arcane and complex rights system based on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/about_us/water_boards_structure/history_water_rights.html\">Gold Rush-era philosophy of “first in time, first in right.”\u003c/a> Generally, those with the oldest claims are the last to be cut back during shortages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental justice advocates and legal experts point out that this system of seniority is plagued with inequalities and based on a history of violence and \u003ca href=\"https://law.stanford.edu/2022/03/16/elc-supports-efforts-by-tribes-and-environmental-justice-advocates-to-reframe-california-water-rights/\">systematic exclusion of Native peoples and people of color\u003c/a>. Legislative analysts also \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/handouts/resources/2009/water_rights_issues_perspectives_031009.pdf\">warned more than a decade ago \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/ppic-review-of-groundwater-sustainability-plans-in-the-san-joaquin-valley.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a> that, in some cases, water rights are “oversubscribed,” meaning they allocate more water than is available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest drought prompted California officials to periodically \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/06/california-delta-water-cutbacks/\">curtail water rights across the state\u003c/a> as supplies dwindled. But \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/08/shasta-river-water-standoff/\">a scuffle in the Shasta Valley\u003c/a>, when some ranchers temporarily refused to comply, revealed that the state’s enforcement muscle is slow to flex and hamstrung by restrictions on penalties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water law experts have \u003ca href=\"https://www.pcl.org/media/2022/02/Updating-California-Water-Laws-to-Address-with-Drought-and-Climate-Change.pdf\">been pushing for changes \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/ppic-review-of-groundwater-sustainability-plans-in-the-san-joaquin-valley.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>. Recommendations include increasing funding to help Native tribes and other underrepresented groups participate in state water proceedings, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.pcl.org/media/2022/02/Updating-California-Water-Laws-to-Address-with-Drought-and-Climate-Change.pdf\">granting state water regulators more authority \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/ppic-review-of-groundwater-sustainability-plans-in-the-san-joaquin-valley.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a> to act swiftly when people violate curtailment orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A water board spokesperson said that they are developing pilot projects to collect real-time data about water diversions, and are considering “adopting regulations that would allow for curtailments of water rights in years when there is not a declared drought emergency.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#9801f1c7-3945-4b12-b3b6-cd4302481093\">More cloud seeding and solar panels\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A couple strategies sound like science fiction, but they are already being used and hold some promise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.countyofsb.org/2548/Cloud-Seeding-Precipitation-Enhancement\">Santa Barbara County\u003c/a> has been practicing cloud seeding for decades — releasing \u003ca href=\"https://content.civicplus.com/api/assets/be2de2b5-10fe-433d-9369-eb68ba70b267?scope=all\">tiny particles of silver iodide\u003c/a> into the atmosphere during certain storms to coax water vapor into forming ice crystals and falling to earth. Researchers say it’s difficult \u003ca href=\"https://ams.confex.com/ams/Annual2005/techprogram/paper_83339.htm\">to evaluate how well it works\u003c/a>, partly because precipitation is so variable, \u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283492150_TARGETCONTROL_ANALYSES_FOR_SANTA_BARBARA_COUNTY%27S_OPERATIONAL_WINTER_CLOUD_SEEDING_PROGRAM\">but one analysis\u003c/a> pointed to increased precipitation of 9% to 21% in two target areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Desert Research Institute has led this effort, \u003ca href=\"https://www.dri.edu/cloud-seeding-program/current-cloud-seeding-operations/\">seeding clouds\u003c/a> in California’s San Joaquin Valley, Nevada, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and Australia. In Wyoming, its 10-year experiment in mountain regions increased snowpack from winter storms by 5% to 15%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11931493\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2121px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11931493\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1286644133.jpg\" alt=\"Clouds with a small plane flying through.\" width=\"2121\" height=\"1414\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1286644133.jpg 2121w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1286644133-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1286644133-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1286644133-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1286644133-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1286644133-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1286644133-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2121px) 100vw, 2121px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cloud seeding involves releasing tiny particles of silver iodide into the atmosphere during certain storms to coax water vapor into forming ice crystals and falling to earth. \u003ccite>(Artinun Prekmoung/EyeEm via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One Central Valley town has turned \u003ca href=\"https://www.source.co/resources/case-studies/solving-a-century-old-water-quality-issue-by-tapping-the-sky/\">to another unusual strategy\u003c/a>: solar-powered “hydropanels” that \u003ca href=\"https://www.source.co/how-hydropanels-work/\">draw water vapor from the air\u003c/a>. In \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2021/09/historic-black-town-california/\">Allensworth, a historic Black town\u003c/a>, hydropanels are expected to produce enough water to fill nearly 44,000 bottles over their lifetime — although not enough to replace the town’s contaminated groundwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These panels have been used \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/05/hydropanels-water-from-air\">around the world in places that lack clean water,\u003c/a> including a Navajo reservation in Arizona, and in Australia, India and Kenya. Actor Robert Downey Jr. even included them when he built his \u003ca href=\"https://thepuristonline.com/2021/04/back-to-the-future-susan-robert-downey-jr-s-sustainable-sanctuary/\">eco-friendly house in Malibu\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#226555b6-6f17-4e6e-90be-2981a0e70002\">Pipe dreams: pipelines to the Midwest and towing icebergs\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Some strategies are as outlandish as they sound. \u003ca href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/04/21/william-shatner-california-drought-seattle-pipe/26111213/\">Actors\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/A-water-pipeline-to-the-Mississippi-River-16412788.php\">political candidates alike (PDF)\u003c/a> have proposed piping water from wetter places, like the Mississippi River. Some have talked for decades about tapping into the Great Lakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has a long, storied history of moving water — some say stealing — from one place to another within the state. It’s even inspired at least one \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071315/\">movie\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If history has taught us anything,” Idaho state Sen. Brian Donesley, a former Angeleno,\u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-06-21-mn-122-story.html\"> told the Los Angeles Times\u003c/a>, “it is that when Californians get thirsty, they will use cash, the law, raw political power and, if necessary, the point of a gun barrel to satisfy their thirst.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But nowadays there are many legal and logistical roadblocks that would stop California from taking water from Alaska, the Midwest or Canada. For one, other regions would be unlikely to allow it. Diverting large volumes of water from the Great Lakes, for instance, is prohibited without the approval of all eight states in the U.S. and two provinces in Canada under \u003ca href=\"https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/great-lakes-water-diversions-future-possibilities/\">a compact\u003c/a> signed into law by President George W. Bush.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pipe dreams of pipelines have been floated often enough that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation \u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/crbstudy/finalreport/Technical%20Report%20F%20-%20Development%20of%20Options%20and%20Stategies/TR-F_Appendix4_FINAL.pdf\">evaluated them \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/A-water-pipeline-to-the-Mississippi-River-16412788.php\">(PDF)\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/crbstudy/finalreport/Technical%20Report%20F%20-%20Development%20of%20Options%20and%20Stategies/TR-F_Appendix4_FINAL.pdf\">,\u003c/a> reporting that a pipeline to the Mississippi River, for instance, would cost billions, use up a lot of energy to pump the water, require decades of construction and face a quagmire of legal and policy issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even California lawmakers have eyed icier reaches of the world for new water supplies: In 1978, the Legislature passed a resolution \u003ca href=\"https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1978/78Vol3.PDF#page=1300\">calling for federal support of a pilot program \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/A-water-pipeline-to-the-Mississippi-River-16412788.php\">(PDF)\u003c/a> to tow icebergs from Antarctica.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Towing icebergs and filling up tankers with freshwater from Alaska drew mentions from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, \u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/crbstudy/finalreport/Executive%20Summary/CRBS_Executive_Summary_FINAL.pdf\">as well as this diplomatic verdict \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/A-water-pipeline-to-the-Mississippi-River-16412788.php\">(PDF)\u003c/a>: These ideas “have either significant technical feasibility challenges or significant questions regarding their reliability.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A small iceberg, for instance, would contain only 250 to 850 acre-feet of water and would require new port terminals, pipelines and pumps to transport the melted ice to a reservoir. The process would take “at least 20 years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for tankers, even the \u003ca href=\"https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=17991\">largest\u003c/a> would hold only about 80 million gallons — barely a drop in the bucket for California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the ideas endure. At a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/08/newsom-strategy-california-water-supply/\">press conference in summer 2022,\u003c/a> Newsom fielded a question about whether pipelines and tankers taking water from faraway places might be the quickest ways to get more water to California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What you're talking about are break-the-glass scenarios,” Newsom answered. ”And I assure you, we have some more novel ones than the one you even approached and that are more interesting. But that's for later.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’re still waiting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Amid climate change and demographic pressures, California feels a sense of urgency to create and implement plans to increase water supply in the coming decades.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1667963924,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":84,"wordCount":3720},"headData":{"title":"California Has Bold Plans to Address Water Security and Boost Supply — but Will They Succeed? | KQED","description":"Amid climate change and demographic pressures, California feels a sense of urgency to create and implement plans to increase water supply in the coming decades.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"California Has Bold Plans to Address Water Security and Boost Supply — but Will They Succeed?","datePublished":"2022-11-08T21:59:19.000Z","dateModified":"2022-11-09T03:18:44.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"Y","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"disqusIdentifier":"11931467 https://ww2.kqed.org/news/?p=11931467","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2022/11/08/california-has-bold-plans-to-address-water-security-and-boost-supply-but-will-they-succeed/","disqusTitle":"California Has Bold Plans to Address Water Security and Boost Supply — but Will They Succeed?","nprByline":"\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/author/rachel-becker/\">Rachel Becker\u003c/a>","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","showOnAuthorArchivePages":"No","path":"/news/11931467/california-has-bold-plans-to-address-water-security-and-boost-supply-but-will-they-succeed","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Over and over again, drought launches California into a familiar scramble to provide enough water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cities and towns \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/06/california-water-shortage/\">call for conservation and brace for shortages\u003c/a>. Growers \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/05/sacramento-valley-water-drought/\">fallow fields\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/08/shasta-river-water-standoff/\">ranchers sell cows\u003c/a>. And \u003ca href=\"https://mydrywell.water.ca.gov/report/\">thousands of people\u003c/a> discover that they \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/08/california-groundwater-dry/\">can’t squeeze another drop from their wells\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So where can California get enough water to survive the latest dry stretch — and the next one, and the next?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Can it pump more water from the salty Pacific Ocean? Treat waste flushed down toilets and washed down drains? Capture runoff that flows off streets into storm drains? Tow Antarctic icebergs to Los Angeles?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Newsom administration \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/08/newsom-strategy-california-water-supply/\">unveiled a road map for bolstering the state water supply\u003c/a>. But the plan — which has few details, distant deadlines and scant plans for agriculture — \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-09-04/newsom-water-supply-strategy-falls-short\">has been met with criticism\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every time another drought rolls around, an array of suggestions rise to the surface. We take a look at the strategies that could work — along with the more outlandish ones — and the obstacles they face.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#75652c02-4d28-4b1a-85fc-4d4883f3d991\">Recycle more water\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Turning sewage into water is the Golden State equivalent of turning water into wine, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/documents/direct_potable_reuse/dprframewkseced.pdf\">California has been doing it for decades (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians used about \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/recycled_water/docs/2022/volumetric-infographic-2021.pdf\">732,000 acre-feet of recycled water (PDF)\u003c/a> in 2021. That’s almost two-thirds of the water that the state’s major aqueduct funneled south in dry 2021 — equivalent to the amount used by roughly 2.6 million households.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/documents/direct_potable_reuse/dprframewkseced.pdf\">None of it flows directly from “toilet to tap” (PDF).\u003c/a> But the State Water Resources Control Board is \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/docs/2022/nwri-ep-finalmemoprelimfind.pdf\">developing regulations for direct potable reuse (PDF)\u003c/a> of highly treated wastewater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, much of California’s recycled water is used for non-drinking purposes, like irrigating landscapes, golf courses and crops. It also refills underground stores that provide drinking water. Southern California has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/documents/direct_potable_reuse/dprframewkseced.pdf\">replenishing local groundwater supplies (PDF)\u003c/a> with recycled wastewater since the 1960s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"postid":"news_11929864","hero":"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/10/RS51691_043_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut.jpg","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom called for \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/-/media/CNRA-Website/Files/Initiatives/Water-Resilience/CA-Water-Supply-Strategy.pdf\">ramping up recycled water use (PDF)\u003c/a> by 2030 by \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/docs/2022/nwri-ep-finalmemoprelimfind.pdf\">roughly 9% (PDF)\u003c/a> from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/recycled_water/docs/2022/volumetric-infographic-2021.pdf\">amount (PDF)\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/docs/2022/nwri-ep-finalmemoprelimfind.pdf\">used in 2021 (PDF)\u003c/a>, rising to 1.8 million acre-feet by 2040. Critics, however, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-09-04/newsom-water-supply-strategy-falls-short\">voiced disappointment with the target’s lack of ambition\u003c/a>, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/board_decisions/adopted_orders/resolutions/2009/rs2009_0011_recyclewater.pdf\">falls short (PDF)\u003c/a> of previous \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/docs/2022/nwri-ep-finalmemoprelimfind.pdf\">state goals (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, water suppliers are spending big to \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/docs/2022/nwri-ep-finalmemoprelimfind.pdf\">build out water recycling facilities (PDF)\u003c/a> in \u003ca href=\"https://www.valleywater.org/project-updates/purified-water-project-ensuring-reliable-groundwater-supply\">Northern\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/water/pdf/purewater/2014/fs_purewater.pdf\">Southern (PDF)\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.mwdh2o.com/building-local-supplies/pure-water-southern-california/\">California (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there’s a catch: As Californians replace their water-guzzling household appliances with more thrifty devices and let the yellow mellow before flushing, the waste stream becomes more concentrated — which could lead \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-0529-2\">to higher treatment costs\u003c/a>, more contaminants and less recycled water overall.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#488fc469-bd9f-4571-8b55-456998d64136\">More desalination\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Desalination is an oft-touted fix for water woes in California, with its ample shoreline. But in practice, \u003ca href=\"https://theconversation.com/desalinating-seawater-sounds-easy-but-there-are-cheaper-and-more-sustainable-ways-to-meet-peoples-water-needs-184919\">environmental concerns and costs\u003c/a> have limited \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2019/09/f66/73355-7.pdf\">the energy-intensive practice \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/docs/2022/nwri-ep-finalmemoprelimfind.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four ocean water desalination facilities in California produce nearly \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/safedrinkingwaterplan/docs/ExecSumPlan_Report.pdf#page=66\">60,000 acre-feet of drinking water \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/docs/2022/nwri-ep-finalmemoprelimfind.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>. More\u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/ocean/desalination/#existing-facilities\"> provide water for industries or other facilities\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New desalination proposals have been rife with controversy. The California Coastal Commission in 2022\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/05/california-desalination-plant-coastal-commission/\"> rejected a seawater desalination\u003c/a> plant in Huntington Beach, with state analysts warning of high costs, a lack of local demand and risks to marine life. But just months later, the commission pivoted, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/10/desalination-plants-california/\">greenlighting a plant in Orange County’s Dana Point\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11931480\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2121px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11931480\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-610327538.jpg\" alt=\"A tangle of pipes at a desalination plant.\" width=\"2121\" height=\"1414\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-610327538.jpg 2121w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-610327538-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-610327538-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-610327538-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-610327538-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-610327538-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-610327538-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2121px) 100vw, 2121px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Located in San Diego County, at the Encina Power Station, the Claude \"Bud\" Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant is the largest salt water desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere and provides 50 million gallons of desalinated seawater per day. \u003ccite>(Reed Kaestner/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A lesser-known but rapidly growing strategy is brackish water desalination, which cleans up salty supplies, such as from groundwater, that can then be used for \u003ca href=\"https://www.chinodesalter.org/97/Facilities\">drinking water. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 23 of these plants have the capacity to produce nearly 140,000 acre-feet of water in a year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/safedrinkingwaterplan/docs/ExecSumPlan_Report.pdf#page=66\">based on a 2013 analysis (PDF). \u003c/a>They use \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/California-Water-Plan/Docs/RMS/2016/09_Desalination_July2016.pdf\">less energy \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/safedrinkingwaterplan/docs/ExecSumPlan_Report.pdf#page=66\">(PDF)\u003c/a> than their seawater counterparts.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#cf07019c-d4ca-4f14-bd54-6235cabc9680\">Capture stormwater runoff\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The rainwater and spillover from sprinklers that flows off roads, yards and rooftops — much of it eventually emptying into waterways or the ocean — could help boost California’s water supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state's urban areas shed 770,000 to 3.9 million acre-feet of runoff a year that could be captured, according to the Pacific Institute. That’s enough to supply between 2.7 million and 13.7 million households for a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The potential is highest in Southern California, which has lots of pavement that sends rainwater and irrigation runoff into storm drains. Collecting this runoff and feeding it into aquifers — or eventually treating it and sending it to taps — would avoid wasting it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some local agencies have been corralling stormwater to replenish aquifers for years, \u003ca href=\"https://data.ca.gov/dataset/stormwater-projects\">with dozens more projects in the works\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnofloodcontrol.org/\">Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District\u003c/a>, for instance, captures runoff across 400 square miles in Fresno County. The water is used to \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnofloodcontrol.org/water-resources/groundwater-recharge/\">fill more than 150 ponds\u003c/a>, where it trickles through the soil to refill groundwater stores. In bone-dry 2021, storm flows \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnofloodcontrol.org/water-resources/groundwater-recharge/\">accounted for almost all of the district’s groundwater recharge\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Monica has been a leader in treating urban runoff, and plans to upgrade a \u003ca href=\"https://www.smgov.net/Departments/PublicWorks/ContentCivEng.aspx?id=54194\">recycling facility\u003c/a> built near its famous pier more than 20 years ago. The plan is \u003ca href=\"https://www.santamonica.gov/sustainable-water-infrastructure-project-swip\">to treat the collected runoff and stormwater\u003c/a> so it’s clean enough to be injected directly into Santa Monica’s groundwater basin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">Strategies for using stormwater (PDF)\u003c/a> also include installing permeable pavement in yards and communities and building basins that let it drain into the soil instead of flowing into storm drains or streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But barriers remain to capturing more of the flows. These \u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">include high costs and a lack of funding \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>, concerns about impacts to water quality and \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-03-04/red-tape-ensnares-los-angeles-storm-water-capture-plan\">lengthy planning and approval processes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#f3d82891-5107-4592-965a-88d126a4dd67\">Transform California agriculture\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.ers.usda.gov/faqs/#Q1\">agriculture is the most productive\u003c/a> in the country. But it also drinks up about \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/Programs/Water-Use-And-Efficiency/Agricultural-Water-Use-Efficiency\">80% of the developed water used in the state\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How much water is used by farms changes with the weather from year to year. But \u003ca href=\"https://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/PI_Water_Use_Trends.pdf\">it remained generally flat \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a> between the 1980s and 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The only real way to reduce water use further in agriculture is to grow less food and farm products, or take more agricultural land out of production,” said Danny Merkley, water resources director with the California Farm Bureau Federation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almonds and pistachios are the \u003ca href=\"https://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CA-Ag-Water-Use-1.pdf\">fourth most water-intensive crops in California \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>, after rice, alfalfa and irrigated pasture, according to the Pacific Institute. \u003ca href=\"https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/California/Publications/Specialty_and_Other_Releases/Almond/Forecast/202205almpd.pdf\">Nut acreage \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a> has \u003ca href=\"https://wsm.ucmerced.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2021-Drought-Impact-Assessment_20210224.pdf\">soared in the past 10 years \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>, but what that means for water is less clear: State data lags and there’s no real-time monitoring of agricultural water use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11931482\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11931482\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS10081_80999037-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Two cyclists ride by an irrigation canal.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS10081_80999037-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS10081_80999037-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS10081_80999037-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS10081_80999037-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS10081_80999037-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS10081_80999037-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS10081_80999037-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The California Aqueduct carries water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to southern California. \u003ccite>(David McNew/ Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>More changes are coming, with \u003ca href=\"https://www.climate.gov/news-features/feed/evaporative-demand-increase-across-lower-48-means-less-water-supplies-drier\">climate change parching crops\u003c/a> and state law calling for \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/08/california-groundwater-dry/\">sustainable groundwater management.\u003c/a> Complying with California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act could require 500,000 to 1 million acres of prime agricultural land to come out of production in the San Joaquin Valley, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/exploring-the-potential-for-water-limited-agriculture-in-the-san-joaquin-valley/\">according to the Public Policy Institute of California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has \u003ca href=\"https://www.conservation.ca.gov/dlrp/grant-programs/Pages/Multibenefit-Land-Repurposing-Program.aspx\">earmarked $110 million over three years\u003c/a> to repurpose agricultural land and put it toward other uses, such as groundwater recharge and habitat restoration. \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2022/Oct-22/State-Collaborates-with-Farmers-to-Conserve-Water-Provide-Habitat-for-Migratory-Birds\">Other funding is provided to growers who fallow their fields\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growers also could opt for \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/exploring-the-potential-for-water-limited-agriculture-in-the-san-joaquin-valley/\">crops grown during the rainy season\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/09/california-drought-farmers/\">breed more drought-tolerant varieties\u003c/a>. And \u003ca href=\"https://calag.ucanr.edu/Archive/?article=ca.v066n02p55\">leaving crop residues in fields\u003c/a> and reducing tillage can allow soil to retain more water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More efficient irrigation systems help, too. But the Farm Bureau’s Merkley said making water go further is growing more difficult and smaller growers can struggle to pay for it. Also, an international team of researchers warned that increased efficiency \u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aat9314\">must be accompanied by robust monitoring and caps on water extractions\u003c/a>. Otherwise, they wrote, it can backfire by prompting planting of more acreage with more water-intensive crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#83001060-ef40-47ba-aa25-0f0dc9762049\">Tear out lawns\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2022/Sep-22/DWR-Takes-Actions-to-Support-Future-Water-Supply-Strategy#:~:text=California%20also%20recently%20took%20additional,and%2042%20gallons%20by%202030.\">About half of water used in cities and towns\u003c/a> is used outdoors for washing cars, hosing down sidewalks and irrigating \u003ca href=\"https://ucanr.edu/sites/UrbanHort/Turfgrass_Management\">roughly 4 million acres of turf\u003c/a>. Turf drinks up the most water in any month, in any part of California, of any plant analyzed in \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/conservation_portal/regs/docs/2022/trees-and-parklands-preface.pdf\">a state report \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tearing out turf and replacing it with more drought-tolerant plants could save between 1 million and 1.5 million acre-feet per year, with \u003ca href=\"https://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/PI_California_Untapped_Urban_Water_Potential_2022-1.pdf\">the largest savings coming from residences \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>, the Pacific Institute estimates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California temporarily banned watering decorative, non-functional turf at businesses and institutions under emergency \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/press_room/press_releases/2022/pr06142022-new-statewide-emergency-conservation-regulation-in-effect.pdf\">regulations adopted in May 2022 \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>, and is reviving rebates for tearing out turf.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11931484\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2127px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11931484\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1335769913.jpg\" alt=\"A sprinkler with multiple streams watering green grass.\" width=\"2127\" height=\"1409\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1335769913.jpg 2127w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1335769913-800x530.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1335769913-1020x676.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1335769913-160x106.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1335769913-1536x1018.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1335769913-2048x1357.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1335769913-1920x1272.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2127px) 100vw, 2127px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Pacific Institute estimates that tearing out turf and replacing it with more drought-tolerant plants could save between 1 million and 1.5 million acre-feet per year. \u003ccite>(Shawn Waldron/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A statewide turf replacement program that began during the last drought tapped out in June 2020 after putting more than $20.5 million toward helping people replace their lawns. Local water providers \u003ca href=\"https://socalwatersmart.com/en/residential/rebates/available-rebates/turf-replacement-program/\">continued their own multi-million dollar efforts\u003c/a>, however, and the state put \u003ca href=\"https://www.ebudget.ca.gov/2022-23/pdf/Enacted/GovernorsBudget/3000/3860.pdf\">$75 million in funding toward rebates in the state’s 2022-2023 \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a> budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1752-1688.12901\">The Metropolitan Water District\u003c/a> has spent more than $350 million coaxing Southern Californians to convert more than 200 million square feet of turf. And there is a ripple effect, with \u003ca href=\"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1752-1688.12901\">some of their neighbors tearing out their lawns\u003c/a>, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there are limits to peer pressure. \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-08-22/kim-kardashian-kevin-hart-california-drought-water-waste\">Celebrities\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Repeat-offenders-among-hundreds-of-East-Bay-17534485.php\">others\u003c/a> continue to be called out for over-watering their yards, and urban water use remains high, with cities and towns, particularly in Southern California, failing to meet Newsom’s goal to cut their water use by 15%.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#6a1996dc-c975-4a14-90b2-d5390efce09f\">Replumb California\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A controversial \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/06/california-water-delta-tunnel/\">plan to replumb the California Delta\u003c/a> — decades in the making — would funnel water from new intakes north of the delta as well as existing south Delta pumps, sending hundreds of thousands more acre-feet of water south instead of allowing it to flow out to the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the state’s environmental review \u003ca href=\"https://www.deltaconveyanceproject.com/read-the-document\">has raised serious concerns\u003c/a> that the tunnel project could harm \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/07/delta-tunnel-water-report/\">endangered salmon and other species\u003c/a>. And, if eventually approved, it would take decades to complete and cost billions of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, California’s existing networks of pipes, aqueducts and canals lose precious supplies to leaks and evaporation. Some strategies have emerged to reduce these losses, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.iid.com/water/library/all-american-canal-lining-project\">lining canals\u003c/a> — \u003ca href=\"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12665-019-8487-6\">which can also impede groundwater recharge\u003c/a> — or \u003ca href=\"https://theconversation.com/first-solar-canal-project-is-a-win-for-water-energy-air-and-climate-in-california-177433\">covering them with solar panels\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In cities and towns, water suppliers \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/docs/rulemaking/isor.pdf\">lose roughly 316,000 acre-feet of water \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a> every year through leaks in their vast mazes of pipes. The state set new standards requiring water providers to meet loss targets starting in 2028, which could save about 88,000 acre-feet a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#4fb7112e-4f1c-4711-a854-ef5d9b0583c6\">Store more water in reservoirs\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cdiv class=\"explainer-card__content\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-cal-explainers-card\">\n\u003cp>Reservoirs aren’t the field of dreams: Even when we build them, the water doesn’t necessarily come. Statewide reservoir \u003ca href=\"https://cww.water.ca.gov/service/document/hydroreport?_=1664980284640\">storage plunged to 69% below average\u003c/a> by the end of September 2022, on the heels of the state’s driest \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/09/california-drought-likely-to-continue/\">three-year stretch on record\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://cwc.ca.gov/Water-Storage/WSIP-Project-Review-Portal\">Proposition 1\u003c/a>, approved in 2014, set aside $2.7 billion to fund water storage projects. The three projects eligible to receive funding, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2022-05-31/drought-resurrects-plan-for-controversial-reservoir\">which include the controversial Sites reservoir,\u003c/a> would increase storage capacity by more than 1.75 million acre-feet, enough to supply more than 6 million households.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How much they would increase the water supply available each year, however, is unclear. Lengthy droughts deplete reservoir storage, and \"the average volume of new water from these facilities is small, and costs are high,\" \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/californias-water-storing-water-november-2018.pdf\">the Public Policy Institute of California \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a> warned in 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11931486\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2190px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11931486\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1182796092.jpg\" alt=\"A view of Shasta Dam, a dam wall with big blue reservoir of Shasta lake behind it and treelined hills in the background.\" width=\"2190\" height=\"1369\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1182796092.jpg 2190w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1182796092-800x500.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1182796092-1020x638.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1182796092-160x100.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1182796092-1536x960.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1182796092-2048x1280.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1182796092-1920x1200.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2190px) 100vw, 2190px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Statewide reservoir storage plunged to 69% below average by the end of Sept. 2022, on the heels of the state’s driest 3-year stretch on record. \u003ccite>(Wenli Li/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Many reservoirs in California do double duty as flood control which means that space for potential floods \u003ca href=\"https://cw3e.ucsd.edu/firo/\">must be maintained even in dry years\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But state, federal and local water managers are working with \u003ca href=\"https://cw3e.ucsd.edu/firo/\">scientists\u003c/a> on strategies to reduce flood risk while reserving more water in California’s reservoirs. Water managers at Lake Mendocino, for instance, are incorporating \u003ca href=\"https://www.drought.gov/regional-activities/forecast-informed-reservoir-operations-firo\">new weather forecasting\u003c/a> tools to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/firo\">update decades-old guidelines\u003c/a> governing when to hold onto water and when to release it. The strategy increased the lake’s storage by \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/-/media/CNRA-Website/Files/Initiatives/Water-Resilience/CA-WRP-Progress-Report.pdf\">nearly 20% in 2020, with most of the water going to agriculture \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181049/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/storms/docs/storms_capture_use.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#0469ec6c-04dc-4175-8b42-09fb00a29cb2\">Recharge groundwater basins\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s underground aquifers can hold vastly more water than its reservoirs — \u003ca href=\"https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/ff075c25b77e4b1d95ce86a82bf0fe96\">between 850 million and 1.3 billion acre-feet\u003c/a> of capacity below ground, compared to \u003ca href=\"https://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=STORSUM\">about 38.1 million acre-feet above\u003c/a> ground, according to the Department of Water Resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local districts have been carefully tending groundwater for decades. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.ocwd.com/gwrs/the-process/process-steps/water-delivery/\">Orange County Water District\u003c/a>, for instance, pumps highly treated water underground to keep seawater at bay and to replenish local drinking-water stores. In the Southern San Joaquin Valley, \u003ca href=\"https://www.law.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Groundwater-Recharge-for-a-Regional-Water-Bank-Kern-Water-Bank-Kern-County-California.pdf\">water suppliers\u003c/a> funnel \u003ca href=\"https://www.kwb.org/groundwater-sustainability/recharge-recovery/\">surface water into underground storage\u003c/a> at the controversial Kern Water Bank, largely for agricultural irrigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Newsom administration has called for increasing groundwater recharge yearly by at least 500,000 acre-feet. But ongoing challenges remain to widespread groundwater recharge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot more empty aquifers than there are unclaimed sources of water in California,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.law.berkeley.edu/research/clee/about/people/michael-kiparsky/\">Michael Kiparsky\u003c/a>, Water Program Director at the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at UC Berkeley School of Law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not just about the amount of water, Kiparsky said, it’s also about the logistics. California will need to ensure there’s enough capacity \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/how-much-water-is-available-for-groundwater-recharge/\">to quickly move flood flows to the right basins\u003c/a> for recharge during California’s brief rainy season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unless that bottleneck is widened, plans to end the overdraft of depleted aquifers in the San Joaquin Valley are calling for more groundwater recharge than is likely realistic, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/ppic-review-of-groundwater-sustainability-plans-in-the-san-joaquin-valley.pdf\">according to the Public Policy Institute of California (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#b41cece5-574f-4534-a444-19e07691d13f\">Control greenhouse gases\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Climate change is \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4386383/\">worsening droughts\u003c/a> and is expected to fuel even \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0140-y\">more extreme swings from dry to deluge\u003c/a>. The Newsom administration warns that climate change could deplete state water supplies \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/-/media/CNRA-Website/Files/Initiatives/Water-Resilience/CA-Water-Supply-Strategy.pdf\">by up to 10% by 2040 \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/ppic-review-of-groundwater-sustainability-plans-in-the-san-joaquin-valley.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curbing use of fossil fuels globally can blunt some of the severity of future droughts, researchers \u003ca href=\"https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3115/nasa-drought-research-shows-value-of-both-climate-mitigation-and-adaptation/\">reported\u003c/a>. But even California, which prides itself on its green image, will need to pick up the pace to meet state goals for cutting greenhouse gases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11931488\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11931488\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS15682_DSC_0403-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Kids splashing around in an outdoor splash pad.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1152\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS15682_DSC_0403-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS15682_DSC_0403-qut-800x480.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS15682_DSC_0403-qut-1020x612.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS15682_DSC_0403-qut-160x96.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS15682_DSC_0403-qut-1536x922.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Climate change is worsening droughts and is expected to fuel even more extreme swings from dry to deluge. The Newsom administration warns that climate change could deplete state water supplies by up to 10% by 2040. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Much larger reductions are needed to reach the ambitious 2030 target — an additional 40% reduction below the original 2020 limit,” \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/news/latest-state-greenhouse-gas-inventory-shows-emissions-continue-drop-below-2020-target\">Air Resources Board Chair Liane Randolph said in July, 2021. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s clean air regulators are ramping up their efforts \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/09/california-climate-change-plan/\">in the state’s updated climate roadmap\u003c/a>. But parts of the plan, including its reliance on technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or capture it from smokestacks, remain contentious.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#2104d2c3-4a7a-4116-b1c9-3eedc45d49c7\">Reform water rights\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s water supplies are governed by an arcane and complex rights system based on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/about_us/water_boards_structure/history_water_rights.html\">Gold Rush-era philosophy of “first in time, first in right.”\u003c/a> Generally, those with the oldest claims are the last to be cut back during shortages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental justice advocates and legal experts point out that this system of seniority is plagued with inequalities and based on a history of violence and \u003ca href=\"https://law.stanford.edu/2022/03/16/elc-supports-efforts-by-tribes-and-environmental-justice-advocates-to-reframe-california-water-rights/\">systematic exclusion of Native peoples and people of color\u003c/a>. Legislative analysts also \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/handouts/resources/2009/water_rights_issues_perspectives_031009.pdf\">warned more than a decade ago \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/ppic-review-of-groundwater-sustainability-plans-in-the-san-joaquin-valley.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a> that, in some cases, water rights are “oversubscribed,” meaning they allocate more water than is available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest drought prompted California officials to periodically \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/06/california-delta-water-cutbacks/\">curtail water rights across the state\u003c/a> as supplies dwindled. But \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/08/shasta-river-water-standoff/\">a scuffle in the Shasta Valley\u003c/a>, when some ranchers temporarily refused to comply, revealed that the state’s enforcement muscle is slow to flex and hamstrung by restrictions on penalties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water law experts have \u003ca href=\"https://www.pcl.org/media/2022/02/Updating-California-Water-Laws-to-Address-with-Drought-and-Climate-Change.pdf\">been pushing for changes \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/ppic-review-of-groundwater-sustainability-plans-in-the-san-joaquin-valley.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a>. Recommendations include increasing funding to help Native tribes and other underrepresented groups participate in state water proceedings, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.pcl.org/media/2022/02/Updating-California-Water-Laws-to-Address-with-Drought-and-Climate-Change.pdf\">granting state water regulators more authority \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/ppic-review-of-groundwater-sustainability-plans-in-the-san-joaquin-valley.pdf\">(PDF)\u003c/a> to act swiftly when people violate curtailment orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A water board spokesperson said that they are developing pilot projects to collect real-time data about water diversions, and are considering “adopting regulations that would allow for curtailments of water rights in years when there is not a declared drought emergency.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#9801f1c7-3945-4b12-b3b6-cd4302481093\">More cloud seeding and solar panels\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A couple strategies sound like science fiction, but they are already being used and hold some promise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.countyofsb.org/2548/Cloud-Seeding-Precipitation-Enhancement\">Santa Barbara County\u003c/a> has been practicing cloud seeding for decades — releasing \u003ca href=\"https://content.civicplus.com/api/assets/be2de2b5-10fe-433d-9369-eb68ba70b267?scope=all\">tiny particles of silver iodide\u003c/a> into the atmosphere during certain storms to coax water vapor into forming ice crystals and falling to earth. Researchers say it’s difficult \u003ca href=\"https://ams.confex.com/ams/Annual2005/techprogram/paper_83339.htm\">to evaluate how well it works\u003c/a>, partly because precipitation is so variable, \u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283492150_TARGETCONTROL_ANALYSES_FOR_SANTA_BARBARA_COUNTY%27S_OPERATIONAL_WINTER_CLOUD_SEEDING_PROGRAM\">but one analysis\u003c/a> pointed to increased precipitation of 9% to 21% in two target areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Desert Research Institute has led this effort, \u003ca href=\"https://www.dri.edu/cloud-seeding-program/current-cloud-seeding-operations/\">seeding clouds\u003c/a> in California’s San Joaquin Valley, Nevada, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and Australia. In Wyoming, its 10-year experiment in mountain regions increased snowpack from winter storms by 5% to 15%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11931493\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2121px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11931493\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1286644133.jpg\" alt=\"Clouds with a small plane flying through.\" width=\"2121\" height=\"1414\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1286644133.jpg 2121w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1286644133-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1286644133-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1286644133-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1286644133-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1286644133-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1286644133-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2121px) 100vw, 2121px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cloud seeding involves releasing tiny particles of silver iodide into the atmosphere during certain storms to coax water vapor into forming ice crystals and falling to earth. \u003ccite>(Artinun Prekmoung/EyeEm via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One Central Valley town has turned \u003ca href=\"https://www.source.co/resources/case-studies/solving-a-century-old-water-quality-issue-by-tapping-the-sky/\">to another unusual strategy\u003c/a>: solar-powered “hydropanels” that \u003ca href=\"https://www.source.co/how-hydropanels-work/\">draw water vapor from the air\u003c/a>. In \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2021/09/historic-black-town-california/\">Allensworth, a historic Black town\u003c/a>, hydropanels are expected to produce enough water to fill nearly 44,000 bottles over their lifetime — although not enough to replace the town’s contaminated groundwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These panels have been used \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/05/hydropanels-water-from-air\">around the world in places that lack clean water,\u003c/a> including a Navajo reservation in Arizona, and in Australia, India and Kenya. Actor Robert Downey Jr. even included them when he built his \u003ca href=\"https://thepuristonline.com/2021/04/back-to-the-future-susan-robert-downey-jr-s-sustainable-sanctuary/\">eco-friendly house in Malibu\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"explainer-card-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/#226555b6-6f17-4e6e-90be-2981a0e70002\">Pipe dreams: pipelines to the Midwest and towing icebergs\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Some strategies are as outlandish as they sound. \u003ca href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/04/21/william-shatner-california-drought-seattle-pipe/26111213/\">Actors\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/A-water-pipeline-to-the-Mississippi-River-16412788.php\">political candidates alike (PDF)\u003c/a> have proposed piping water from wetter places, like the Mississippi River. Some have talked for decades about tapping into the Great Lakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has a long, storied history of moving water — some say stealing — from one place to another within the state. It’s even inspired at least one \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071315/\">movie\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If history has taught us anything,” Idaho state Sen. Brian Donesley, a former Angeleno,\u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-06-21-mn-122-story.html\"> told the Los Angeles Times\u003c/a>, “it is that when Californians get thirsty, they will use cash, the law, raw political power and, if necessary, the point of a gun barrel to satisfy their thirst.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But nowadays there are many legal and logistical roadblocks that would stop California from taking water from Alaska, the Midwest or Canada. For one, other regions would be unlikely to allow it. Diverting large volumes of water from the Great Lakes, for instance, is prohibited without the approval of all eight states in the U.S. and two provinces in Canada under \u003ca href=\"https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/great-lakes-water-diversions-future-possibilities/\">a compact\u003c/a> signed into law by President George W. Bush.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pipe dreams of pipelines have been floated often enough that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation \u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/crbstudy/finalreport/Technical%20Report%20F%20-%20Development%20of%20Options%20and%20Stategies/TR-F_Appendix4_FINAL.pdf\">evaluated them \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/A-water-pipeline-to-the-Mississippi-River-16412788.php\">(PDF)\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/crbstudy/finalreport/Technical%20Report%20F%20-%20Development%20of%20Options%20and%20Stategies/TR-F_Appendix4_FINAL.pdf\">,\u003c/a> reporting that a pipeline to the Mississippi River, for instance, would cost billions, use up a lot of energy to pump the water, require decades of construction and face a quagmire of legal and policy issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even California lawmakers have eyed icier reaches of the world for new water supplies: In 1978, the Legislature passed a resolution \u003ca href=\"https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1978/78Vol3.PDF#page=1300\">calling for federal support of a pilot program \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/A-water-pipeline-to-the-Mississippi-River-16412788.php\">(PDF)\u003c/a> to tow icebergs from Antarctica.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Towing icebergs and filling up tankers with freshwater from Alaska drew mentions from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, \u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/crbstudy/finalreport/Executive%20Summary/CRBS_Executive_Summary_FINAL.pdf\">as well as this diplomatic verdict \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/A-water-pipeline-to-the-Mississippi-River-16412788.php\">(PDF)\u003c/a>: These ideas “have either significant technical feasibility challenges or significant questions regarding their reliability.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A small iceberg, for instance, would contain only 250 to 850 acre-feet of water and would require new port terminals, pipelines and pumps to transport the melted ice to a reservoir. The process would take “at least 20 years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for tankers, even the \u003ca href=\"https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=17991\">largest\u003c/a> would hold only about 80 million gallons — barely a drop in the bucket for California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the ideas endure. At a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/08/newsom-strategy-california-water-supply/\">press conference in summer 2022,\u003c/a> Newsom fielded a question about whether pipelines and tankers taking water from faraway places might be the quickest ways to get more water to California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What you're talking about are break-the-glass scenarios,” Newsom answered. ”And I assure you, we have some more novel ones than the one you even approached and that are more interesting. But that's for later.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’re still waiting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11931467/california-has-bold-plans-to-address-water-security-and-boost-supply-but-will-they-succeed","authors":["byline_news_11931467"],"categories":["news_19906","news_8"],"tags":["news_31960","news_17601","news_6442"],"affiliates":["news_18481"],"featImg":"news_11931475","label":"news_18481"},"news_11927745":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11927745","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"news","id":"11927745","score":null,"sort":[1664997224000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"meet-the-california-farmers-awash-in-colorado-river-water-even-in-a-drought","title":"Meet the California Farmers Awash in Colorado River Water, Even in a Drought","publishDate":1664997224,"format":"standard","headTitle":"KQED News","labelTerm":{},"content":"\u003cp>A few hundred farms in the southern tip of California, along the Mexican border, may hold the key to saving the drought-plagued Colorado River from collapse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These farmers, in Imperial County, currently \u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/hourly/forecast.pdf\">draw more water\u003c/a> from the Colorado River than all of Arizona and Nevada combined. They inherited the legal right to use that water, but they're now under pressure to give up some of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Imperial Valley is a place of jarring contrasts. Half is in its natural state, a bone-dry desert. The other half is mile after mile of green fields lined by irrigation canals. A few of the fields are shrouded by showers of water delivered from long lines of sprinklers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steve Benson, managing partner of Benson Farms, points out a neighbor's field where a crew is planting lettuce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's very early planting,\" he says. \"There's been a bad crop in northern California. So it's been a high market. They're trying to jump on the market early and have the first lettuce to be harvested.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That lettuce will be in grocery stores by mid-November. Other fields are covered with alfalfa or grass that will become feed for cattle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This area gets less attention than California's Central Valley, the nation's leading producer of produce and nuts, which draws its water from rain and snow in the Sierra Mountains, or pumps it from shrinking underground aquifers. The Imperial Valley, by contrast, has only one source of water: the Colorado River, 80 miles to the east.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The New Deal brings Colorado River water to a desert\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>These fields owe their existence to fortune-seeking land speculators and engineers who, starting in 1901, dug a canal to bring water to this valley from the Colorado River. Geography was the key. Most of the Imperial Valley actually lies below sea level, and well below the canal's starting point on the Colorado River near Yuma, Ariz. This allowed water to flow through the canal powered solely by gravity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Construction of the original canal was marked by epic engineering failure. After heavy rains in 1905, the raging Colorado burst out of its normal channel, into the unfinished construction project, and carved a new, uncontrolled path into the Imperial Valley, creating an enormous lake called the Salton Sea. It took two years to redirect the river back into its original channel. The Salton Sea still exists, although it's in \u003ca href=\"https://pacinst.org/salton-sea/\">deep trouble\u003c/a>. It's now more salty than the ocean, heavily contaminated with agricultural runoff, and shrinking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.iid.com/water/water-transportation-system/colorado-river-facilities/all-american-canal\">current canal\u003c/a>, built during the New Deal and called the All-American Canal, delivers enough water to the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) each year to cover all of its irrigated land – almost 800 square miles – with 5 feet of water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that flow of water is now in question, because the Colorado River \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/09/22/1124150368/where-the-colorado-river-crisis-is-hitting-home\">doesn't have enough water \u003c/a>for everyone. The giant reservoirs of Lake Mead and Lake Powell are \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/01/07/1067716380/western-megadrought-climate-lake-powell-glen-canyon-reservoir\">shrinking fast\u003c/a>, and the federal government is \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/08/27/1119550028/7-states-and-federal-government-lack-direction-on-cutbacks-from-the-colorado-riv\">calling on all users\u003c/a> of the river's water, which include farmers and cities such as Phoenix and Las Vegas, to come up with a plan to cut their water use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sarah Porter, who's director of the \u003ca href=\"https://morrisoninstitute.asu.edu/content/kyl-center-water-policy\">Kyl Center for Water Policy\u003c/a> at Arizona State University, says the Imperial Irrigation District is now at the center of these negotiations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They have the most water, and in some senses the most power,\" she says. \"You have a lot of leverage if you have a lot of water.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Water as property, backed-up by law\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Imperial Valley farmers like Andrew Leimgruber, for their part, argue that they have a legal right to all of this water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We have the laws in place, you know, when water comes anywhere west of the Mississippi, it's first-come, first-served, and that's how it's always been,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>IID laid claim to water from the Colorado River before cities like Phoenix and Tucson showed up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Going by established law, Leimgruber says, those latecomers would be cut off from Colorado River water completely before the Imperial Irrigation District gives up any of the water to which it's entitled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In reality, nobody really expects cities to get cut off completely. The farmers say they understand that people need water for health and safety – although maybe not for swimming pools and lawns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also know that this crisis is so severe that famers in the Imperial Valley will have to cut back, too. Their legal rights won't do much good if there's no more water arriving from Lake Mead.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A water conservation deal is in the works\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\"The river has a gun to everybody's heads, and it's in everybody's interest to try to work out this thing,\" says JB Hamby, a member of the irrigation district's board of directors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If nothing changes, within a few years, Lake Mead would drop to a level called \"dead pool\" and water would stop flowing through Hoover Dam. It would never reach the canal that supplies Imperial Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hamby says the district is looking to make a deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I think we would rather come up with voluntary agreements to live with a little bit less, to ensure that we have water,\" he says. \"If you get to a point where you're at dead pool, you have nothing at all.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Porter, some legal experts believe that the federal Bureau of Reclamation has the authority simply to order a reduction in water deliveries from reservoirs like Lake Mead to agricultural irrigation districts. Farmers, however, would almost certainly challenge such an order in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, farmers are hoping for a deal in which the government will pay them to use less water. One \u003ca href=\"https://www.circleofblue.org/2022/world/arizona-and-california-farmers-targets-for-colorado-river-cuts-draft-their-conservation-strategy/\">draft plan\u003c/a> that's circulating among irrigation districts proposes annual payments of $1,500 per acre – almost $1.4 billion in total – in exchange for cutting water use by roughly 20 percent on almost a million acres of farmland. Half of those acres lie within the Imperial Irrigation District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Similar deals have been struck in the past, although none involved so much money. In 2003, under pressure from the federal government, IID \u003ca href=\"https://www.iid.com/water/library/qsa-water-transfer/history-of-the-qsa-related-agreements\">agreed\u003c/a> to transfer about 10 percent of its total allotment of water each year to San Diego and another neighboring water district. In exchange, San Diego pays the irrigation district more than $100 million each year. Much of the money goes to pay for projects that conserve water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steve Benson says a further cut of 20 percent is feasible, but it does involve costs. Farmers could buy new, more water-efficient irrigation equipment. Irrigation canals that are currently simple ditches in the dirt could be lined with concrete, to prevent water from seeping into the ground. Farmers also could reduce the amount of land planted in crops, especially alfalfa and grasses, which get baled into hay to feed cattle or horses. Those forage crops, which cover the majority of the land, aren't usually as valuable as vegetables.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Instead of eight cuttings of alfalfa, we might turn off the water in the summer and dry up the field, and let it come back in the fall,\" Benson says. \"The reality is, we'll probably be taking more of our summers off. My kids'll be happy.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lurking in those details, though, is a bigger and more worrisome question. It's about the future of the whole valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A deal affects more than farmers\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Roughly 180,000 people, most of them Mexican-American, live here in towns that include El Centro, Calexico, and Brawley. Imperial County is already \u003ca href=\"https://calbudgetcenter.org/app/uploads/140108_poverty_table_and_map.pdf\">one of the poorest\u003c/a> in California. Some fear that less water, and less farming, means fewer jobs and economic decline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>John Hernandez, a Mexican-American activist, says that there's also a question of fairness if most of the money that the irrigation district gets for using less water – potentially hundreds of millions of dollars each year – gets passed out to just a few hundred farms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"On the one hand, you have the most disadvantaged community, but in the same community you have some of the richest farmers!\" he says. \"Something is not right when that's going on in the neighborhood.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hernandez says that the crisis on the Colorado River provides a time for the predominantly white people who've claimed that water — and the wealth and power that came with it – to share more of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Meet+the+California+farmers+awash+in+Colorado+River+water%2C+even+in+a+drought&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"A single irrigation district in California, along the Mexican border, takes more water from the Colorado River than all of Arizona and Nevada. It's under pressure to use less.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1664997224,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":35,"wordCount":1436},"headData":{"title":"Meet the California Farmers Awash in Colorado River Water, Even in a Drought | KQED","description":"A single irrigation district in California, along the Mexican border, takes more water from the Colorado River than all of Arizona and Nevada. It's under pressure to use less.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Meet the California Farmers Awash in Colorado River Water, Even in a Drought","datePublished":"2022-10-05T19:13:44.000Z","dateModified":"2022-10-05T19:13:44.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"Y","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"disqusIdentifier":"11927745 https://ww2.kqed.org/news/?p=11927745","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2022/10/05/meet-the-california-farmers-awash-in-colorado-river-water-even-in-a-drought/","disqusTitle":"Meet the California Farmers Awash in Colorado River Water, Even in a Drought","source":"NPR","sourceUrl":"https://www.npr.org","nprByline":"Dan Charles","nprImageAgency":"Dan Charles for NPR","nprStoryId":"1126240060","nprApiLink":"http://api.npr.org/query?id=1126240060&apiKey=MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004","nprHtmlLink":"https://www.npr.org/2022/10/04/1126240060/meet-the-california-farmers-awash-in-colorado-river-water-even-in-a-drought?ft=nprml&f=1126240060","nprRetrievedStory":"1","nprPubDate":"Tue, 04 Oct 2022 17:57:00 -0400","nprStoryDate":"Tue, 04 Oct 2022 05:00:00 -0400","nprLastModifiedDate":"Tue, 04 Oct 2022 17:57:13 -0400","nprAudio":"https://ondemand.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/me/2022/10/20221004_me_meet_the_california_farmers_awash_in_colorado_river_water_even_in_a_drought.mp3?orgId=1&topicId=1003&d=295&p=3&story=1126240060&ft=nprml&f=1126240060","nprAudioM3u":"http://api.npr.org/m3u/11126680930-6a073d.m3u?orgId=1&topicId=1003&d=295&p=3&story=1126240060&ft=nprml&f=1126240060","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","showOnAuthorArchivePages":"No","path":"/news/11927745/meet-the-california-farmers-awash-in-colorado-river-water-even-in-a-drought","audioUrl":"https://ondemand.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/me/2022/10/20221004_me_meet_the_california_farmers_awash_in_colorado_river_water_even_in_a_drought.mp3?orgId=1&topicId=1003&d=295&p=3&story=1126240060&ft=nprml&f=1126240060","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A few hundred farms in the southern tip of California, along the Mexican border, may hold the key to saving the drought-plagued Colorado River from collapse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These farmers, in Imperial County, currently \u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/hourly/forecast.pdf\">draw more water\u003c/a> from the Colorado River than all of Arizona and Nevada combined. They inherited the legal right to use that water, but they're now under pressure to give up some of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Imperial Valley is a place of jarring contrasts. Half is in its natural state, a bone-dry desert. The other half is mile after mile of green fields lined by irrigation canals. A few of the fields are shrouded by showers of water delivered from long lines of sprinklers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steve Benson, managing partner of Benson Farms, points out a neighbor's field where a crew is planting lettuce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's very early planting,\" he says. \"There's been a bad crop in northern California. So it's been a high market. They're trying to jump on the market early and have the first lettuce to be harvested.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That lettuce will be in grocery stores by mid-November. Other fields are covered with alfalfa or grass that will become feed for cattle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This area gets less attention than California's Central Valley, the nation's leading producer of produce and nuts, which draws its water from rain and snow in the Sierra Mountains, or pumps it from shrinking underground aquifers. The Imperial Valley, by contrast, has only one source of water: the Colorado River, 80 miles to the east.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The New Deal brings Colorado River water to a desert\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>These fields owe their existence to fortune-seeking land speculators and engineers who, starting in 1901, dug a canal to bring water to this valley from the Colorado River. Geography was the key. Most of the Imperial Valley actually lies below sea level, and well below the canal's starting point on the Colorado River near Yuma, Ariz. This allowed water to flow through the canal powered solely by gravity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Construction of the original canal was marked by epic engineering failure. After heavy rains in 1905, the raging Colorado burst out of its normal channel, into the unfinished construction project, and carved a new, uncontrolled path into the Imperial Valley, creating an enormous lake called the Salton Sea. It took two years to redirect the river back into its original channel. The Salton Sea still exists, although it's in \u003ca href=\"https://pacinst.org/salton-sea/\">deep trouble\u003c/a>. It's now more salty than the ocean, heavily contaminated with agricultural runoff, and shrinking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.iid.com/water/water-transportation-system/colorado-river-facilities/all-american-canal\">current canal\u003c/a>, built during the New Deal and called the All-American Canal, delivers enough water to the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) each year to cover all of its irrigated land – almost 800 square miles – with 5 feet of water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that flow of water is now in question, because the Colorado River \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/09/22/1124150368/where-the-colorado-river-crisis-is-hitting-home\">doesn't have enough water \u003c/a>for everyone. The giant reservoirs of Lake Mead and Lake Powell are \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/01/07/1067716380/western-megadrought-climate-lake-powell-glen-canyon-reservoir\">shrinking fast\u003c/a>, and the federal government is \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/08/27/1119550028/7-states-and-federal-government-lack-direction-on-cutbacks-from-the-colorado-riv\">calling on all users\u003c/a> of the river's water, which include farmers and cities such as Phoenix and Las Vegas, to come up with a plan to cut their water use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sarah Porter, who's director of the \u003ca href=\"https://morrisoninstitute.asu.edu/content/kyl-center-water-policy\">Kyl Center for Water Policy\u003c/a> at Arizona State University, says the Imperial Irrigation District is now at the center of these negotiations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They have the most water, and in some senses the most power,\" she says. \"You have a lot of leverage if you have a lot of water.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Water as property, backed-up by law\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Imperial Valley farmers like Andrew Leimgruber, for their part, argue that they have a legal right to all of this water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We have the laws in place, you know, when water comes anywhere west of the Mississippi, it's first-come, first-served, and that's how it's always been,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>IID laid claim to water from the Colorado River before cities like Phoenix and Tucson showed up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Going by established law, Leimgruber says, those latecomers would be cut off from Colorado River water completely before the Imperial Irrigation District gives up any of the water to which it's entitled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In reality, nobody really expects cities to get cut off completely. The farmers say they understand that people need water for health and safety – although maybe not for swimming pools and lawns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also know that this crisis is so severe that famers in the Imperial Valley will have to cut back, too. Their legal rights won't do much good if there's no more water arriving from Lake Mead.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A water conservation deal is in the works\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\"The river has a gun to everybody's heads, and it's in everybody's interest to try to work out this thing,\" says JB Hamby, a member of the irrigation district's board of directors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If nothing changes, within a few years, Lake Mead would drop to a level called \"dead pool\" and water would stop flowing through Hoover Dam. It would never reach the canal that supplies Imperial Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hamby says the district is looking to make a deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I think we would rather come up with voluntary agreements to live with a little bit less, to ensure that we have water,\" he says. \"If you get to a point where you're at dead pool, you have nothing at all.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Porter, some legal experts believe that the federal Bureau of Reclamation has the authority simply to order a reduction in water deliveries from reservoirs like Lake Mead to agricultural irrigation districts. Farmers, however, would almost certainly challenge such an order in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, farmers are hoping for a deal in which the government will pay them to use less water. One \u003ca href=\"https://www.circleofblue.org/2022/world/arizona-and-california-farmers-targets-for-colorado-river-cuts-draft-their-conservation-strategy/\">draft plan\u003c/a> that's circulating among irrigation districts proposes annual payments of $1,500 per acre – almost $1.4 billion in total – in exchange for cutting water use by roughly 20 percent on almost a million acres of farmland. Half of those acres lie within the Imperial Irrigation District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Similar deals have been struck in the past, although none involved so much money. In 2003, under pressure from the federal government, IID \u003ca href=\"https://www.iid.com/water/library/qsa-water-transfer/history-of-the-qsa-related-agreements\">agreed\u003c/a> to transfer about 10 percent of its total allotment of water each year to San Diego and another neighboring water district. In exchange, San Diego pays the irrigation district more than $100 million each year. Much of the money goes to pay for projects that conserve water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steve Benson says a further cut of 20 percent is feasible, but it does involve costs. Farmers could buy new, more water-efficient irrigation equipment. Irrigation canals that are currently simple ditches in the dirt could be lined with concrete, to prevent water from seeping into the ground. Farmers also could reduce the amount of land planted in crops, especially alfalfa and grasses, which get baled into hay to feed cattle or horses. Those forage crops, which cover the majority of the land, aren't usually as valuable as vegetables.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Instead of eight cuttings of alfalfa, we might turn off the water in the summer and dry up the field, and let it come back in the fall,\" Benson says. \"The reality is, we'll probably be taking more of our summers off. My kids'll be happy.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lurking in those details, though, is a bigger and more worrisome question. It's about the future of the whole valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A deal affects more than farmers\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Roughly 180,000 people, most of them Mexican-American, live here in towns that include El Centro, Calexico, and Brawley. Imperial County is already \u003ca href=\"https://calbudgetcenter.org/app/uploads/140108_poverty_table_and_map.pdf\">one of the poorest\u003c/a> in California. Some fear that less water, and less farming, means fewer jobs and economic decline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>John Hernandez, a Mexican-American activist, says that there's also a question of fairness if most of the money that the irrigation district gets for using less water – potentially hundreds of millions of dollars each year – gets passed out to just a few hundred farms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"On the one hand, you have the most disadvantaged community, but in the same community you have some of the richest farmers!\" he says. \"Something is not right when that's going on in the neighborhood.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hernandez says that the crisis on the Colorado River provides a time for the predominantly white people who've claimed that water — and the wealth and power that came with it – to share more of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Meet+the+California+farmers+awash+in+Colorado+River+water%2C+even+in+a+drought&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11927745/meet-the-california-farmers-awash-in-colorado-river-water-even-in-a-drought","authors":["byline_news_11927745"],"categories":["news_8"],"tags":["news_31762","news_17601","news_18163","news_31761"],"featImg":"news_11927746","label":"source_news_11927745"},"news_11927120":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11927120","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"news","id":"11927120","score":null,"sort":[1664489026000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"california-drought-enters-fourth-year-with-little-respite-on-the-horizon","title":"California Drought Enters Fourth Year With Little Respite on the Horizon","publishDate":1664489026,"format":"standard","headTitle":"CALmatters | KQED News","labelTerm":{},"content":"\u003cp>As California’s 2022 water year ends this week, the parched state is bracing for another dry year — its fourth in a row.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, in California’s recorded history, six previous droughts have lasted four or more years, two of them in the past 35 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite some rain in September, weather watchers \u003ca href=\"https://drought.ca.gov/media/2022/09/Weekly-CA-Drought-Update-09192022-FINAL.pdf\">expect a hot and dry fall\u003c/a>, and warn that this winter \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/seasonal.php?lead=3\">could bring warm temperatures and below-average precipitation\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Conditions are shaping up to be a “recipe for drought”: a La Niña climate pattern plus warm temperatures in the western tropical Pacific that could mean that critical rain and snowstorms miss California, according to \u003ca href=\"https://weatherwest.com/about\">Daniel Swain\u003c/a>, a climate scientist with UCLA and The Nature Conservancy.[aside label='Related Articles' tag='water']Swain said California’s fate will depend on how exactly the storm track shifts, and that seasonal forecasts are inherently uncertain. Even so, “I would still put my money on dry, even in the northern third of the state,” he said. “It’s not a guarantee. But if you were to see 50 winters like this one, most of them would be dry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Through August, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/cag/statewide/time-series/4/pcp/36/8/1895-2022?base_prd=true&begbaseyear=1895&endbaseyear=2022\">no other three-year period in California history\u003c/a> has been this dry — even during the last historic drought from \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Water-Basics/Drought/Files/Publications-And-Reports/CNRA-Drought-Report-final-March-2021.pdf\">2012 through 2016\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Or did the last drought end? Which is the bigger question,” said \u003ca href=\"https://snri.ucmerced.edu/content/john-abatzoglou\">John Abatzoglou\u003c/a>, professor of climatology at UC Merced. “We’re basically having droughts that are disrupted by wet periods.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has seen lengthy droughts before, including two seven-year droughts that started in the late 1920s and 1940s. A more recent one lasted six years, from 1987 to 1992.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To get these kinds of years, we have to go back to the late 1920s and the 1930s, which were \u003ca href=\"https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/great-depression-and-world-war-ii-1929-1945/dust-bowl/\">the Dust Bowl years\u003c/a>,” said California state climatologist \u003ca href=\"https://oehha.ca.gov/climate-change/document/climate-change-connections-speaker-biographies\">Michael Anderson\u003c/a>. He tallies far more dry years than wet since the turn of the millennium. “If you look at the 21st century, we really only have a handful of wet years to work with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not just the lack of rain and snow. Warmer temperatures, too, are exacerbating California’s droughts. January through August ranked as \u003ca href=\"https://www.noaa.gov/news/us-sweltered-through-third-hottest-summer-on-record\">California’s fifth-warmest year to date\u003c/a>, following 2021’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.noaa.gov/news/summer-2021-neck-and-neck-with-dust-bowl-summer-for-hottest-on-record\">warmest summer on record\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One thing that is unfortunately becoming easier to anticipate are warmer-than-average conditions due to climate change,” Swain of UCLA said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The heat contributes to a thirstier atmosphere, plants and soils, which increases demand and reduces runoff that flows into reservoirs. “That’s taking what’s already been a really rotten, worst-in-the-instrumental-record precipitation drought, and making it into even a worse drought,” Abatzoglou said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Winter is coming. But will it rain?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>What the coming water year, which \u003ca href=\"https://water.usgs.gov/nwc/explain_data.html\">begins October 1\u003c/a>, will bring is still up in the air. But La Niña conditions are highly likely to continue through at least the fall, with \u003ca href=\"https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/september-2022-la-ni%C3%B1a-update-it%E2%80%99s-q-time\">an 80% chance of persisting\u003c/a> through January, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc.shtml\">for a third year in a row\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/september-2022-la-ni%C3%B1a-update-it%E2%80%99s-q-time\">“three-peat” La Niña\u003c/a> is rare: It has happened only twice before since record-keeping began. La Niña occurs when ocean temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific are below normal, which can shift the storm track that California depends on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Seeing things that we’ve never seen before is very much on the table,” said John Yarbrough, assistant deputy director of the \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/Programs/State-Water-Project\">State Water Project\u003c/a>, which funnels water from Northern California to 27 million people and 750,000 acres of farmland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Often La Niña means drier conditions in Southern California, but the effects on Northern California watersheds critical to the state’s water supply can be harder to predict, according to \u003ca href=\"https://cw3e.ucsd.edu/cw3e-welcomes-dr-julie-kalansky/\">Julie Kalansky\u003c/a>, deputy director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11927140\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11927140\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Seasonal-Precipitation-Outlook-800x671.jpg\" alt=\"A map of the United States shows precipitation to be below average across the entire southern United States and almost all of California\" width=\"800\" height=\"671\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Seasonal-Precipitation-Outlook-800x671.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Seasonal-Precipitation-Outlook-1020x855.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Seasonal-Precipitation-Outlook-160x134.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Seasonal-Precipitation-Outlook.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">With below-average precipitation expected through the coming winter, California will see drought conditions for the foreseeable future. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Every year is such a unique story for water, which makes California exciting, but it also makes it hard to predict and say what will happen,” Kalansky said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What will ultimately shape the next water year is \u003ca href=\"https://cw3e.ucsd.edu/lack_of_ars_drought/\">the number of storms known as atmospheric rivers\u003c/a> that make landfall, and the amount of precipitation they unleash. The timing, too, will be important, Anderson said: when rain and snow falls can affect how much of California’s precious snowpack rushes into reservoirs or soaks into the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“From the water management standpoint, we’re being mindful that it very well could be dry,” Yarbrough said. “At the same time, we’ve got to be mindful that it could be very wet and you could have flooding. Both of those still are possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dry spells punctuated by wet years are part of “the California story,” Abatzoglou said. “But obviously the last decade has shifted the balance toward more droughts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What about snow?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Snow, too, is difficult to predict for the year ahead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s definitely more of a guessing game. You’re just sort of crossing your fingers and hoping,” said \u003ca href=\"https://skicalifornia.org/about-ski-california/\">Michael Reitzell\u003c/a>, president of Ski California, a trade association representing resorts in Nevada and California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This past year was a strange one for the ski industry, Reitzell said — marred first by wildfires that \u003ca href=\"https://www.sierraattahoe.com/blog/general/caldor-fire-update/\">damaged the Sierra-at-Tahoe resort\u003c/a>, then by \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Treacherous-blizzard-blowing-around-like-a-16730724.php\">extreme snowstorms at the end of December\u003c/a> that forced some resorts to close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the holiday period, some resorts lost full days that would have been huge, huge revenue days,” Reitzell said. “That certainly does put a ding in things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year’s \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2022/April-22/April-2022-Snow-Survey\">snowpack measured at 38% of average statewide\u003c/a>, at a time when it should have been its deepest on April 1. It was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/04/california-sierra-snowpack/\">the worst snowpack in seven years\u003c/a> and the sixth-lowest April measurement in state history. The \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Water-Basics/Drought/Files/Publications-And-Reports/CNRA-Drought-Report-final-March-2021.pdf\">2015 snowpack was the lowest on record\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11927143\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 724px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11927143\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-1332199024.jpg\" alt=\"Lake with dry river banks around low water level and wooded hills in the background. Paved boat ramp in lower right no longer reaches water. Dirt boat ramp provides temporary access. Houseboats moored near swimming platform who's underwater anchor, which should be vertically below platform, lies exposed horizontally on dry shore.\" width=\"724\" height=\"483\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-1332199024.jpg 724w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-1332199024-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 724px) 100vw, 724px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Low water level at Shasta Lake due to the multiyear drought. The lake provides recreation as well as drinking and irrigation water to locations as far as Los Angeles, 500 miles away. \u003ccite>(Nehring/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The measurement came on the heels of \u003ca href=\"https://drought.ca.gov/media/2022/09/Weekly-CA-Drought-Update-09192022-FINAL.pdf\">a record-setting dry spell from January through March\u003c/a>, with warm temperatures spurring an early season melt. This kind of early melt is difficult to recover from, said Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist and station manager at the \u003ca href=\"https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/research-unit/central-sierra-snow-lab\">University of California, Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab\u003c/a>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our soils get dry and soak up any additional rain or snow that comes in, so that doesn’t make it to our reservoirs. And then we get these mass forest die-offs and subsequent forest fires,” Schwartz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He agreed it’s hard to say what La Niña will mean for the Sierra Nevada this winter. He said “some absolutely massive snow years” have happened during La Niña years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But we’ve also had some of the worst years on record happen here. So the La Niña doesn’t look like it’s going to play too much of a role up here, because traditionally it hasn’t,” he said. “With that being said, I’m expecting drier and warmer than average conditions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A deep water deficit\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California is entering the next year with a water deficit unlikely to recover with an average year of precipitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Groundwater levels in almost two-thirds of wells assessed \u003ca href=\"https://cww.water.ca.gov/service/document/hydroreport?_=1663956947040\">have sunk below average\u003c/a>, and by the end of August, reservoir storage had hit 69% of normal for the date. It’s an improvement over last year, when reservoir levels had dropped \u003ca href=\"https://cww.water.ca.gov/service/document/hydroreport?_=1663956947040\">to just 60% of average\u003c/a> for the date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But reservoirs are still not where they need to be. “We’re still well below average, still well below where we would like to be,” said Yarbrough, of the State Water Project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lake Oroville, \u003ca href=\"https://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=RES\">at 1.24 million acre feet\u003c/a>, remains below the 1.6 million acre-foot threshold that managers would like to see by the end of the year before considering exports. Last year, deliveries from the State Water Project \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2021/March-21/SWP-Allocation-Update-March-23\">dropped to 5% of requested\u003c/a> supplies in March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Initial water allocations are expected to be announced December 1, and Yarbrough would not say what they were likely to be. Still, he said, “Do expect it to be on the lower end.”[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Ryan Jacobsen, CEO, Fresno County Farm Bureau\"]'We find ourselves going into this year with such a substantial decline over the course of the previous three years that even an average year most likely is going to mean some not good allocations to farmers down here in the Valley.'[/pullquote]The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the Central Valley Project, also would not say how much water its recipients, including Central Valley growers, can expect next year. That announcement will come in February, spokesperson Mary Lee Knecht said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Ryan Jacobsen, CEO of the Fresno County Farm Bureau, is not expecting the news to be good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We find ourselves going into this year with such a substantial decline over the course of the previous three years that even an average year most likely is going to mean some not good allocations to farmers down here in the Valley,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacobsen said local growers already have cut back on plantings for fall and winter crops. He expects even more fields to be fallowed as farmers decide not to plant annual crops like tomatoes, melons and corn to preserve their scarce water supplies for permanent crops like tree nuts and grapes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One source of California’s water supply is in even more dire shape than in previous droughts: the Colorado River, which remained a reliable source of water supply even during California’s 2012-2016 drought. This time the river’s massive reservoirs have hit historic lows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Colorado River system is in deep crisis,” said Alex Hall, professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at UCLA. “That means Southern California is in a more difficult position than in the past.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Southern California’s giant water importer, the Metropolitan Water District, issued unprecedented outdoor watering restrictions last spring for the 6 million people in its vast service area that depend on supplies from the parched State Water Project. Over the last three years, the water district has received its lowest total deliveries from Northern California reservoirs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the water importer is weighing how potential future cutbacks on the Colorado River could affect the rest of its customers as California, Arizona and Nevada hash out a deal to conserve the river’s water, said Demetri Polyzos, Metropolitan’s manager of resource planning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are saying, ‘Hey, we’ve gone through this before. California is used to droughts,’” Polyzos said. “That is true. But we’re seeing these things get a lot worse and worse and more difficult to manage through.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What is becoming increasingly clear is that the nature of drought in the West is changing from the plural to the singular as it endures for long stretches punctuated by brief spells of wet years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The idea of drought as a temporary, transient thing is shifting,” Swain said. “We should be thinking more about long-term aridification.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"After its driest stretch on record, California braces for another year with below-average snow and rain.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1664495462,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":45,"wordCount":2006},"headData":{"title":"California Drought Enters Fourth Year With Little Respite on the Horizon | KQED","description":"After its driest stretch on record, California braces for another year with below-average snow and rain.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"California Drought Enters Fourth Year With Little Respite on the Horizon","datePublished":"2022-09-29T22:03:46.000Z","dateModified":"2022-09-29T23:51:02.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"Y","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"disqusIdentifier":"11927120 https://ww2.kqed.org/news/?p=11927120","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2022/09/29/california-drought-enters-fourth-year-with-little-respite-on-the-horizon/","disqusTitle":"California Drought Enters Fourth Year With Little Respite on the Horizon","source":"\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>","nprByline":"\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/author/rachel-becker/\">Rachel Becker\u003c/a>","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","showOnAuthorArchivePages":"No","path":"/news/11927120/california-drought-enters-fourth-year-with-little-respite-on-the-horizon","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As California’s 2022 water year ends this week, the parched state is bracing for another dry year — its fourth in a row.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, in California’s recorded history, six previous droughts have lasted four or more years, two of them in the past 35 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite some rain in September, weather watchers \u003ca href=\"https://drought.ca.gov/media/2022/09/Weekly-CA-Drought-Update-09192022-FINAL.pdf\">expect a hot and dry fall\u003c/a>, and warn that this winter \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/seasonal.php?lead=3\">could bring warm temperatures and below-average precipitation\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Conditions are shaping up to be a “recipe for drought”: a La Niña climate pattern plus warm temperatures in the western tropical Pacific that could mean that critical rain and snowstorms miss California, according to \u003ca href=\"https://weatherwest.com/about\">Daniel Swain\u003c/a>, a climate scientist with UCLA and The Nature Conservancy.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"label":"Related Articles ","tag":"water"},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Swain said California’s fate will depend on how exactly the storm track shifts, and that seasonal forecasts are inherently uncertain. Even so, “I would still put my money on dry, even in the northern third of the state,” he said. “It’s not a guarantee. But if you were to see 50 winters like this one, most of them would be dry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Through August, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/cag/statewide/time-series/4/pcp/36/8/1895-2022?base_prd=true&begbaseyear=1895&endbaseyear=2022\">no other three-year period in California history\u003c/a> has been this dry — even during the last historic drought from \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Water-Basics/Drought/Files/Publications-And-Reports/CNRA-Drought-Report-final-March-2021.pdf\">2012 through 2016\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Or did the last drought end? Which is the bigger question,” said \u003ca href=\"https://snri.ucmerced.edu/content/john-abatzoglou\">John Abatzoglou\u003c/a>, professor of climatology at UC Merced. “We’re basically having droughts that are disrupted by wet periods.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has seen lengthy droughts before, including two seven-year droughts that started in the late 1920s and 1940s. A more recent one lasted six years, from 1987 to 1992.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To get these kinds of years, we have to go back to the late 1920s and the 1930s, which were \u003ca href=\"https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/great-depression-and-world-war-ii-1929-1945/dust-bowl/\">the Dust Bowl years\u003c/a>,” said California state climatologist \u003ca href=\"https://oehha.ca.gov/climate-change/document/climate-change-connections-speaker-biographies\">Michael Anderson\u003c/a>. He tallies far more dry years than wet since the turn of the millennium. “If you look at the 21st century, we really only have a handful of wet years to work with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not just the lack of rain and snow. Warmer temperatures, too, are exacerbating California’s droughts. January through August ranked as \u003ca href=\"https://www.noaa.gov/news/us-sweltered-through-third-hottest-summer-on-record\">California’s fifth-warmest year to date\u003c/a>, following 2021’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.noaa.gov/news/summer-2021-neck-and-neck-with-dust-bowl-summer-for-hottest-on-record\">warmest summer on record\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One thing that is unfortunately becoming easier to anticipate are warmer-than-average conditions due to climate change,” Swain of UCLA said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The heat contributes to a thirstier atmosphere, plants and soils, which increases demand and reduces runoff that flows into reservoirs. “That’s taking what’s already been a really rotten, worst-in-the-instrumental-record precipitation drought, and making it into even a worse drought,” Abatzoglou said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Winter is coming. But will it rain?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>What the coming water year, which \u003ca href=\"https://water.usgs.gov/nwc/explain_data.html\">begins October 1\u003c/a>, will bring is still up in the air. But La Niña conditions are highly likely to continue through at least the fall, with \u003ca href=\"https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/september-2022-la-ni%C3%B1a-update-it%E2%80%99s-q-time\">an 80% chance of persisting\u003c/a> through January, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc.shtml\">for a third year in a row\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/september-2022-la-ni%C3%B1a-update-it%E2%80%99s-q-time\">“three-peat” La Niña\u003c/a> is rare: It has happened only twice before since record-keeping began. La Niña occurs when ocean temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific are below normal, which can shift the storm track that California depends on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Seeing things that we’ve never seen before is very much on the table,” said John Yarbrough, assistant deputy director of the \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/Programs/State-Water-Project\">State Water Project\u003c/a>, which funnels water from Northern California to 27 million people and 750,000 acres of farmland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Often La Niña means drier conditions in Southern California, but the effects on Northern California watersheds critical to the state’s water supply can be harder to predict, according to \u003ca href=\"https://cw3e.ucsd.edu/cw3e-welcomes-dr-julie-kalansky/\">Julie Kalansky\u003c/a>, deputy director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11927140\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11927140\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Seasonal-Precipitation-Outlook-800x671.jpg\" alt=\"A map of the United States shows precipitation to be below average across the entire southern United States and almost all of California\" width=\"800\" height=\"671\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Seasonal-Precipitation-Outlook-800x671.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Seasonal-Precipitation-Outlook-1020x855.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Seasonal-Precipitation-Outlook-160x134.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/Seasonal-Precipitation-Outlook.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">With below-average precipitation expected through the coming winter, California will see drought conditions for the foreseeable future. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Every year is such a unique story for water, which makes California exciting, but it also makes it hard to predict and say what will happen,” Kalansky said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What will ultimately shape the next water year is \u003ca href=\"https://cw3e.ucsd.edu/lack_of_ars_drought/\">the number of storms known as atmospheric rivers\u003c/a> that make landfall, and the amount of precipitation they unleash. The timing, too, will be important, Anderson said: when rain and snow falls can affect how much of California’s precious snowpack rushes into reservoirs or soaks into the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“From the water management standpoint, we’re being mindful that it very well could be dry,” Yarbrough said. “At the same time, we’ve got to be mindful that it could be very wet and you could have flooding. Both of those still are possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dry spells punctuated by wet years are part of “the California story,” Abatzoglou said. “But obviously the last decade has shifted the balance toward more droughts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What about snow?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Snow, too, is difficult to predict for the year ahead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s definitely more of a guessing game. You’re just sort of crossing your fingers and hoping,” said \u003ca href=\"https://skicalifornia.org/about-ski-california/\">Michael Reitzell\u003c/a>, president of Ski California, a trade association representing resorts in Nevada and California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This past year was a strange one for the ski industry, Reitzell said — marred first by wildfires that \u003ca href=\"https://www.sierraattahoe.com/blog/general/caldor-fire-update/\">damaged the Sierra-at-Tahoe resort\u003c/a>, then by \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Treacherous-blizzard-blowing-around-like-a-16730724.php\">extreme snowstorms at the end of December\u003c/a> that forced some resorts to close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the holiday period, some resorts lost full days that would have been huge, huge revenue days,” Reitzell said. “That certainly does put a ding in things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year’s \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2022/April-22/April-2022-Snow-Survey\">snowpack measured at 38% of average statewide\u003c/a>, at a time when it should have been its deepest on April 1. It was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/04/california-sierra-snowpack/\">the worst snowpack in seven years\u003c/a> and the sixth-lowest April measurement in state history. The \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Water-Basics/Drought/Files/Publications-And-Reports/CNRA-Drought-Report-final-March-2021.pdf\">2015 snowpack was the lowest on record\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11927143\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 724px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11927143\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-1332199024.jpg\" alt=\"Lake with dry river banks around low water level and wooded hills in the background. Paved boat ramp in lower right no longer reaches water. Dirt boat ramp provides temporary access. Houseboats moored near swimming platform who's underwater anchor, which should be vertically below platform, lies exposed horizontally on dry shore.\" width=\"724\" height=\"483\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-1332199024.jpg 724w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-1332199024-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 724px) 100vw, 724px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Low water level at Shasta Lake due to the multiyear drought. The lake provides recreation as well as drinking and irrigation water to locations as far as Los Angeles, 500 miles away. \u003ccite>(Nehring/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The measurement came on the heels of \u003ca href=\"https://drought.ca.gov/media/2022/09/Weekly-CA-Drought-Update-09192022-FINAL.pdf\">a record-setting dry spell from January through March\u003c/a>, with warm temperatures spurring an early season melt. This kind of early melt is difficult to recover from, said Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist and station manager at the \u003ca href=\"https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/research-unit/central-sierra-snow-lab\">University of California, Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab\u003c/a>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our soils get dry and soak up any additional rain or snow that comes in, so that doesn’t make it to our reservoirs. And then we get these mass forest die-offs and subsequent forest fires,” Schwartz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He agreed it’s hard to say what La Niña will mean for the Sierra Nevada this winter. He said “some absolutely massive snow years” have happened during La Niña years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But we’ve also had some of the worst years on record happen here. So the La Niña doesn’t look like it’s going to play too much of a role up here, because traditionally it hasn’t,” he said. “With that being said, I’m expecting drier and warmer than average conditions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A deep water deficit\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California is entering the next year with a water deficit unlikely to recover with an average year of precipitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Groundwater levels in almost two-thirds of wells assessed \u003ca href=\"https://cww.water.ca.gov/service/document/hydroreport?_=1663956947040\">have sunk below average\u003c/a>, and by the end of August, reservoir storage had hit 69% of normal for the date. It’s an improvement over last year, when reservoir levels had dropped \u003ca href=\"https://cww.water.ca.gov/service/document/hydroreport?_=1663956947040\">to just 60% of average\u003c/a> for the date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But reservoirs are still not where they need to be. “We’re still well below average, still well below where we would like to be,” said Yarbrough, of the State Water Project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lake Oroville, \u003ca href=\"https://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=RES\">at 1.24 million acre feet\u003c/a>, remains below the 1.6 million acre-foot threshold that managers would like to see by the end of the year before considering exports. Last year, deliveries from the State Water Project \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2021/March-21/SWP-Allocation-Update-March-23\">dropped to 5% of requested\u003c/a> supplies in March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Initial water allocations are expected to be announced December 1, and Yarbrough would not say what they were likely to be. Still, he said, “Do expect it to be on the lower end.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"'We find ourselves going into this year with such a substantial decline over the course of the previous three years that even an average year most likely is going to mean some not good allocations to farmers down here in the Valley.'","name":"pullquote","attributes":{"named":{"align":"right","size":"medium","citation":"Ryan Jacobsen, CEO, Fresno County Farm Bureau","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the Central Valley Project, also would not say how much water its recipients, including Central Valley growers, can expect next year. That announcement will come in February, spokesperson Mary Lee Knecht said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Ryan Jacobsen, CEO of the Fresno County Farm Bureau, is not expecting the news to be good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We find ourselves going into this year with such a substantial decline over the course of the previous three years that even an average year most likely is going to mean some not good allocations to farmers down here in the Valley,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacobsen said local growers already have cut back on plantings for fall and winter crops. He expects even more fields to be fallowed as farmers decide not to plant annual crops like tomatoes, melons and corn to preserve their scarce water supplies for permanent crops like tree nuts and grapes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One source of California’s water supply is in even more dire shape than in previous droughts: the Colorado River, which remained a reliable source of water supply even during California’s 2012-2016 drought. This time the river’s massive reservoirs have hit historic lows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Colorado River system is in deep crisis,” said Alex Hall, professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at UCLA. “That means Southern California is in a more difficult position than in the past.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Southern California’s giant water importer, the Metropolitan Water District, issued unprecedented outdoor watering restrictions last spring for the 6 million people in its vast service area that depend on supplies from the parched State Water Project. Over the last three years, the water district has received its lowest total deliveries from Northern California reservoirs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the water importer is weighing how potential future cutbacks on the Colorado River could affect the rest of its customers as California, Arizona and Nevada hash out a deal to conserve the river’s water, said Demetri Polyzos, Metropolitan’s manager of resource planning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are saying, ‘Hey, we’ve gone through this before. California is used to droughts,’” Polyzos said. “That is true. But we’re seeing these things get a lot worse and worse and more difficult to manage through.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What is becoming increasingly clear is that the nature of drought in the West is changing from the plural to the singular as it endures for long stretches punctuated by brief spells of wet years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The idea of drought as a temporary, transient thing is shifting,” Swain said. “We should be thinking more about long-term aridification.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11927120/california-drought-enters-fourth-year-with-little-respite-on-the-horizon","authors":["byline_news_11927120"],"categories":["news_19906","news_8"],"tags":["news_31710","news_31711","news_17601"],"affiliates":["news_18481"],"featImg":"news_11927149","label":"source_news_11927120"},"news_11925400":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11925400","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"news","id":"11925400","score":null,"sort":[1663185648000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"the-mad-rush-for-groundwater-in-the-central-valley","title":"The Mad Rush for Groundwater in the Central Valley","publishDate":1663185648,"format":"standard","headTitle":"KQED News","labelTerm":{},"content":"\u003cp>Most Californians are feeling the effects of the drought. But in areas of the state where people rely on groundwater, such as the San Joaquin Valley, the pain of this drought is especially severe. Wells are going dry and there’s intense competition to find and pull more water from underground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a rural area about 30 miles north of Fresno, a drill pipe rotated as it burrowed deeper and deeper into the earth in a search for untapped reservoirs of groundwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If this well finds water, nearby homeowners whose first well has gone dry will use it. If the drill pipe doesn't hit water, people here, like many in this part of California who aren’t hooked up to municipal water systems, won't have water without buying it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the drill has to go down pretty deep just to find out if any water is there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We will not hit water until about 380 to 400 (feet),\" said drilling supervisor Daniel Reese, adding that drilling to such depths to find groundwater would have been rare just 15 to 25 years ago. Then, the maximum drilling depth would have been 200 to 300 feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"small\" citation=\"Tom Collishaw, president and CEO, Self-Help Enterprises\"]'The deepest straw gets the water. That's absolutely how it works.'[/pullquote]So why drill deeper to hit water? Drought, of course\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — \u003c/span>both past and present. Less rain means it’s harder for aquifers to get recharged, and that presents its own problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pumping water from ever-deeper aquifers causes the land to sink, and not by a few inches, but by feet. This is called land subsidence. You can imagine how this happens if you think of water as filling in between soil, sand and rock. When pumps pull the water out at deeper and deeper levels, the space between the sand and rocks squishes together and the land sinks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='news_11882276']Land subsidence can crack the surface of the land, crack foundations of homes, particularly older homes, and squeeze the capacity of the aquifer overall. Think about it\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — \u003c/span>if the space between sand and rocks squishes together, and then the land sinks on top of it, it's hard for that space to expand to fill with water again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://news.stanford.edu/2022/06/02/will-californias-san-joaquin-valley-stop-sinking/\">Land subsidence has already reduced the amount of water\u003c/a> that can flow through crucial canals and aqueducts. Today, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.watereducation.org/aquapedia/california-aqueduct#:~:text=The%20California%20Aqueduct%2C%20a%20critical,Joaquin%20Valley%20and%20Southern%20California.\">California Aqueduct, which brings water to some 3 million acres of farmland, carries 20% less water than it was designed for\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This cycle of drought drying up reservoirs, deeper groundwater pumping and the land falling in on itself spirals onward as climate change continues to affect drought and rainfall unpredictably.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of this simply puts more pressure on the land, since people who live in the Central Valley, like people everywhere, need water to survive. So there’s a kind of race in the San Joaquin Valley now to drill deeper and tap the water that remains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='related articles' tag='water']In a sense, a lot of straws are going into the ground to get to that water. But do some people win and some people lose?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The deepest straw gets the water. That's absolutely how it works,\" said Tom Collishaw of Visalia-based Self-Help Enterprises, a nonprofit that provides emergency water services and low-interest loans for private well construction in the San Joaquin Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Collishaw says one result of groundwater overpumping is that the cost of drilling has soared.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Well-drilling right now on a single-family household lot is costing $60,000, where three years ago maybe we were paying $25,000,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what do you do if you can’t afford to drill or you need to wait until a drilling crew arrives? That’s when many people put in giant tanks filled with trucked-in water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water-tank installation contractor Brandon Jones says his company installs as many as five tanks a day. When I meet him, he and his crew are at a home east of Visalia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925444\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11925444\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/watertank-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A man bends over in front of a water tank outside somebody's home as he tries to attach a large hose connected to a water tanker seen from the rear in the background with a dirt road leading away to a dry landscape and a tree in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/watertank-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/watertank-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/watertank-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/watertank-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/watertank-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/watertank-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A crew installs a water tank at a home outside Visalia, which will be filled with trucked-in water. People who can't afford to drill for groundwater, or who must wait months for busy drilling contractors to arrive, install the tanks to help them take care of their essential water needs. This tank will need to be filled once every one or two weeks depending on how much water is used. \u003ccite>(Saul Gonzalez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\"So we're installing a temporary 2,500-gallon water tank,\" Jones said. \"And that will get them temporary water until they can come up with a permanent solution for water, either a new well or connection to city infrastructure, which I don’t think is out here.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The homeowner, Michelle\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (\u003c/span>who doesn’t want her last name used), says she hasn’t had water since June, when her well went dry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It’s like you turn on the faucet and nothing came out,\" she said. With the tank, she and her family can now bathe, flush toilets and cook. Even so, she considers this to be only a temporary solution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This is a Band-Aid until we're able to drill a new well and hopefully find water,\" she said. \"When we get people to call us back and actually come give us an estimate, we'll know, because it's just so hard to get through ... there are so many people in the same situation that everyone is extremely busy.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside label='In-Depth Coverage' link1=\"https://revealnews.org/article/california-is-sinking-and-its-getting-worse/,California Is Sinking and It's Getting Worse\"]\u003c/span>But there's another problem: Even if a property owner or community drills a successful well, the water that’s found could be contaminated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s been a years-long issue in mostly poor and Latino communities in the Valley, such as Ducor, population just over 600.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s groundwater in Ducor, but the water’s too dangerous to consume because of decades of pesticide runoff from agriculture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local resident Alisao Aldaco says it’s water that’s safe for the plants but not to drink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"No, you can’t drink it,\" he said, as he watered his yard. \"You can maybe even smell it? Just buy bottled water … every week. You got to buy the water for the week.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925447\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11925447\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/platform-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A single water drill rises in a parched and arid landscape with a dry thorny shrub in the foreground.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/platform-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/platform-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/platform-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/platform-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/platform-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/platform-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A derelict water-drilling platform along Highway 65 in the San Joaquin Valley. There's growing competition between farmers and homeowners in the region to drill deeper wells to get to untapped groundwater. \u003ccite>(Saul Gonzalez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So what’s ahead for the San Joaquin Valley and the quantity and quality of its groundwater? Cleanup efforts of tainted aquifers are slow, or nonexistent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state is also implementing a massive groundwater management plan, but that will take years to see results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile the search for increasingly scarce groundwater continues. Back at his drilling site, Daniel Reese says he has a long line of desperate customers waiting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I’m averaging five to six months out,\" said Reese. \"That’s actually a pretty decent number, so we’re pushing it. We’re pushing it.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Reese says he cautions his customers that the fact that he drills doesn’t mean the water will actually be found\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — \u003c/span>no matter how deep he goes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"People in the San Joaquin Valley rely on groundwater for basic needs. For years, they've had to drill ever deeper to find it, as drought dries up wells.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1663185648,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":33,"wordCount":1267},"headData":{"title":"The Mad Rush for Groundwater in the Central Valley | KQED","description":"People in the San Joaquin Valley rely on groundwater for basic needs. For years, they've had to drill ever deeper to find it, as drought dries up wells.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"The Mad Rush for Groundwater in the Central Valley","datePublished":"2022-09-14T20:00:48.000Z","dateModified":"2022-09-14T20:00:48.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"Y","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"disqusIdentifier":"11925400 https://ww2.kqed.org/news/?p=11925400","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2022/09/14/the-mad-rush-for-groundwater-in-the-central-valley/","disqusTitle":"The Mad Rush for Groundwater in the Central Valley","source":"News","templateType":"standard","featuredImageType":"standard","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","showOnAuthorArchivePages":"No","path":"/news/11925400/the-mad-rush-for-groundwater-in-the-central-valley","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Most Californians are feeling the effects of the drought. But in areas of the state where people rely on groundwater, such as the San Joaquin Valley, the pain of this drought is especially severe. Wells are going dry and there’s intense competition to find and pull more water from underground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a rural area about 30 miles north of Fresno, a drill pipe rotated as it burrowed deeper and deeper into the earth in a search for untapped reservoirs of groundwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If this well finds water, nearby homeowners whose first well has gone dry will use it. If the drill pipe doesn't hit water, people here, like many in this part of California who aren’t hooked up to municipal water systems, won't have water without buying it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the drill has to go down pretty deep just to find out if any water is there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We will not hit water until about 380 to 400 (feet),\" said drilling supervisor Daniel Reese, adding that drilling to such depths to find groundwater would have been rare just 15 to 25 years ago. Then, the maximum drilling depth would have been 200 to 300 feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"'The deepest straw gets the water. That's absolutely how it works.'","name":"pullquote","attributes":{"named":{"align":"right","size":"small","citation":"Tom Collishaw, president and CEO, Self-Help Enterprises","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>So why drill deeper to hit water? Drought, of course\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — \u003c/span>both past and present. Less rain means it’s harder for aquifers to get recharged, and that presents its own problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pumping water from ever-deeper aquifers causes the land to sink, and not by a few inches, but by feet. This is called land subsidence. You can imagine how this happens if you think of water as filling in between soil, sand and rock. When pumps pull the water out at deeper and deeper levels, the space between the sand and rocks squishes together and the land sinks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"postid":"news_11882276","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Land subsidence can crack the surface of the land, crack foundations of homes, particularly older homes, and squeeze the capacity of the aquifer overall. Think about it\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — \u003c/span>if the space between sand and rocks squishes together, and then the land sinks on top of it, it's hard for that space to expand to fill with water again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://news.stanford.edu/2022/06/02/will-californias-san-joaquin-valley-stop-sinking/\">Land subsidence has already reduced the amount of water\u003c/a> that can flow through crucial canals and aqueducts. Today, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.watereducation.org/aquapedia/california-aqueduct#:~:text=The%20California%20Aqueduct%2C%20a%20critical,Joaquin%20Valley%20and%20Southern%20California.\">California Aqueduct, which brings water to some 3 million acres of farmland, carries 20% less water than it was designed for\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This cycle of drought drying up reservoirs, deeper groundwater pumping and the land falling in on itself spirals onward as climate change continues to affect drought and rainfall unpredictably.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of this simply puts more pressure on the land, since people who live in the Central Valley, like people everywhere, need water to survive. So there’s a kind of race in the San Joaquin Valley now to drill deeper and tap the water that remains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"label":"related articles ","tag":"water"},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In a sense, a lot of straws are going into the ground to get to that water. But do some people win and some people lose?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The deepest straw gets the water. That's absolutely how it works,\" said Tom Collishaw of Visalia-based Self-Help Enterprises, a nonprofit that provides emergency water services and low-interest loans for private well construction in the San Joaquin Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Collishaw says one result of groundwater overpumping is that the cost of drilling has soared.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Well-drilling right now on a single-family household lot is costing $60,000, where three years ago maybe we were paying $25,000,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what do you do if you can’t afford to drill or you need to wait until a drilling crew arrives? That’s when many people put in giant tanks filled with trucked-in water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water-tank installation contractor Brandon Jones says his company installs as many as five tanks a day. When I meet him, he and his crew are at a home east of Visalia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925444\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11925444\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/watertank-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A man bends over in front of a water tank outside somebody's home as he tries to attach a large hose connected to a water tanker seen from the rear in the background with a dirt road leading away to a dry landscape and a tree in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/watertank-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/watertank-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/watertank-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/watertank-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/watertank-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/watertank-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A crew installs a water tank at a home outside Visalia, which will be filled with trucked-in water. People who can't afford to drill for groundwater, or who must wait months for busy drilling contractors to arrive, install the tanks to help them take care of their essential water needs. This tank will need to be filled once every one or two weeks depending on how much water is used. \u003ccite>(Saul Gonzalez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\"So we're installing a temporary 2,500-gallon water tank,\" Jones said. \"And that will get them temporary water until they can come up with a permanent solution for water, either a new well or connection to city infrastructure, which I don’t think is out here.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The homeowner, Michelle\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (\u003c/span>who doesn’t want her last name used), says she hasn’t had water since June, when her well went dry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It’s like you turn on the faucet and nothing came out,\" she said. With the tank, she and her family can now bathe, flush toilets and cook. Even so, she considers this to be only a temporary solution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This is a Band-Aid until we're able to drill a new well and hopefully find water,\" she said. \"When we get people to call us back and actually come give us an estimate, we'll know, because it's just so hard to get through ... there are so many people in the same situation that everyone is extremely busy.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"label":"In-Depth Coverage ","link1":"https://revealnews.org/article/california-is-sinking-and-its-getting-worse/,California Is Sinking and It's Getting Worse"},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>But there's another problem: Even if a property owner or community drills a successful well, the water that’s found could be contaminated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s been a years-long issue in mostly poor and Latino communities in the Valley, such as Ducor, population just over 600.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s groundwater in Ducor, but the water’s too dangerous to consume because of decades of pesticide runoff from agriculture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local resident Alisao Aldaco says it’s water that’s safe for the plants but not to drink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"No, you can’t drink it,\" he said, as he watered his yard. \"You can maybe even smell it? Just buy bottled water … every week. You got to buy the water for the week.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11925447\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11925447\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/platform-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A single water drill rises in a parched and arid landscape with a dry thorny shrub in the foreground.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/platform-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/platform-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/platform-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/platform-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/platform-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/platform-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A derelict water-drilling platform along Highway 65 in the San Joaquin Valley. There's growing competition between farmers and homeowners in the region to drill deeper wells to get to untapped groundwater. \u003ccite>(Saul Gonzalez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So what’s ahead for the San Joaquin Valley and the quantity and quality of its groundwater? Cleanup efforts of tainted aquifers are slow, or nonexistent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state is also implementing a massive groundwater management plan, but that will take years to see results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile the search for increasingly scarce groundwater continues. Back at his drilling site, Daniel Reese says he has a long line of desperate customers waiting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I’m averaging five to six months out,\" said Reese. \"That’s actually a pretty decent number, so we’re pushing it. We’re pushing it.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Reese says he cautions his customers that the fact that he drills doesn’t mean the water will actually be found\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — \u003c/span>no matter how deep he goes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11925400/the-mad-rush-for-groundwater-in-the-central-valley","authors":["11621","11812","235"],"categories":["news_19906","news_8","news_356"],"tags":["news_31622","news_31621","news_31620","news_20447","news_311","news_17601","news_5892","news_312"],"featImg":"news_11925441","label":"source_news_11925400"}},"programsReducer":{"possible":{"id":"possible","title":"Possible","info":"Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. 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Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. 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You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg","imageAlt":"KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn","officialWebsiteLink":"/mindshift/","meta":{"site":"news","source":"kqed","order":"2"},"link":"/podcasts/mindshift","subscribe":{"apple":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindshift-podcast/id1078765985","google":"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5","npr":"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast","stitcher":"https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share","spotify":"https://open.spotify.com/show/0MxSpNYZKNprFLCl7eEtyx"}},"morning-edition":{"id":"morning-edition","title":"Morning Edition","info":"\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.","airtime":"MON-FRI 3am-9am","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg","officialWebsiteLink":"https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/","meta":{"site":"news","source":"npr"},"link":"/radio/program/morning-edition"},"onourwatch":{"id":"onourwatch","title":"On Our Watch","tagline":"Police secrets, unsealed","info":"For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. 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