California’s water department must face the reality of climate change and diverse needs

As we enter a new decade, California faces increasing environmental challenges caused by climate change, creating an uncertain future for our water resources. We need bold leadership to address these impacts. It is time for California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) to implement water policy for the state that shores up our precious waterways and diversifies water supplies in the face of these imminent threats.

Scientists have long cautioned about the plight of the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary, the largest estuary on the West Coast, home to many important species, and hub of California’s major water diversion and delivery projects. Warnings detail how fish and wildlife will disappear due to mismanagement, and climate-driven impacts will increase droughts and reduce snowpack.

DWR is the agency charged with sustainably managing the state’s water and enhancing the natural environment. It should heed these warnings. The department manages the State Water Project – the vast system of dams, aqueducts and pumps which diverts water from the Delta and delivers it to contract holders.

DWR could play a lead role in helping the state become more resilient in the face of climate change by ensuring that the State Water Project is managed to reduce diversions from the Bay-Delta ecosystem and to promote water use efficiency, water reuse, and other measures that help water districts wean themselves off of unrealistic and unsustainable levels of water use.

For over 50 years, DWR has promised deliveries from the State Water Project that far exceed what the system can reliably deliver. Decades ago when these delivery contracts were signed, water managers thought it was OK to drain rivers, leading to disastrous results.

Groundwater basins have also historically been drained at alarming rates. As recently as 2015, groundwater extraction caused land to sink as much as two feet per year in some places. Now, rivers and estuaries are dying as climate change intensifies droughts and fish populations diminish.

More recently, the department pushed, but failed to implement the ill-conceived twin tunnels project to pump even more water out of the Delta. Gov. Gavin Newsom showed great leadership and foresight by taking a step back from the horrible plan. Thankfully, Newsom last year ordered Water Resources, the State Water Board and the Department of Fish and Wildlife to evaluate a smaller project.

But in November, DWR proposed to increase freshwater diversions out of the Bay-Delta. President Donald Trump’s Department of the Interior wanted to divert even more.

DWR must not undermine protections for the state’s endangered species, but must work with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and the scientific community to operate the State Water Project to protect those species. That means significantly increasing flows at key times of the year.

CDFW and the California State Water Resources Control Board have both concluded we must reduce the amount of fresh water diverted out of the San Francisco Bay-Delta. In fact, the 2009 Delta Reform Act directs California to do just that. Water Resources must join the growing chorus calling for a multi-faceted plan that provides a stable and reliable supply of water statewide which does not reduce critical environmental protections for the Delta.

Smart local water managers are already making the investments in sustainable local and regional water supplies that allow them to reduce reliance on increasingly uncertain imported water supplies, such as from the Bay-Delta. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, DWR’s largest customer, now projects imported water demand for southern California will decline through local water use reduction efforts, according to Natural Resources Defense Council. Similarly, the department must recognize that California does not need to divert more water out of the estuary to sustain a robust state economy.

DWR needs a reality check and a renewed spirit for this new decade – one that heeds scientists’ warnings and forces contract holders to adapt to the challenges we’re now facing. This change must start with the department declaring a new approach to managing water. It must invest in innovative systems that account for the new normal in California – one faced with increasing droughts and fires and biodiversity loss as a result of climate change. California’s water is too precious for anything less.

This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 8:00 AM.