Legislation Provides a Choice Between Two Water Futures
BY: Einar Maisch
General Manager, PCWA
Last week, the Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee in Sacramento held a hearing on several bills that represented two different visions for future water use in California. One vision, embodied in AB 968 (Rubio) and supported by Placer County Water Agency, would establish new long-term water use efficiency targets for water agencies, and their customers, taking into account local conditions, established water rights, and past investments. The other vision, proposed by the Brown Administration and reflected in accompanying legislation, would transfer unchecked authority to the unelected State Water Resources Control Board to set permanent conservation standards, and ratchet them down over time, regardless of local conditions. It is the typical “one-size fits all” approach we are accustomed to from Sacramento.
For me, the most telling moment of the hearing came from testimony in opposition to the locally-developed approach, and in favor of the Administration’s proposal. The witness, representing the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), claimed the state needed to engage in more central-planning to prevent the water conservation “backsliding” that has occurred since the end of the drought. 2014 and 2015 were two very dry years, marked by mandated conservation during which residents and businesses reduced water use by over 30 percent in many areas of the state. People took extraordinary actions, let their landscapes die, reduced flushing, and generally did whatever they could to help stretch limited water supplies.
Then over the last two years, with reservoirs refilling in 2016, and the region experiencing the most rain on record in 2017, urban water use has slowly evolved to a new normal. People have learned they can live just fine using less water and everyone is finding their own way forward. Some are replacing their landscapes with more drought tolerant materials, while others are restoring their landscapes with improved irrigation technology. Overall, PCWA customers are still using roughly 20 percent less water compared to pre-drought levels. That is responsible use of water, not “backsliding.”
For the NRDC, however, no one should be allowed to increase their water use beyond what they were able to get by on when supplies were critical. They would have all of us live every year as if it were a critical drought, regardless of the level of investments the community has made to ensure a reliable water supply.
Instead of envisioning a future that looks a lot like the bleak days of 2014 and 2015, PCWA supports a vision of the future marked by prudent stewardship of the natural amenities we enjoy in Placer County. For this central valley boy, a shade tree and a spot of cool grass on a summer day (with no runoff down the gutter) is not a crime.
