Missed opportunities to capture and boost California’s water supply
Missed opportunities to capture and boost California’s water supply
Co-Authored by: Northern and Southern California water associations, Statewide desalination association and water districts
- John Kingsbury, Mountain Counties Water Resources Association – Executive Director
- Jim Atkinson, Mesa Water District – Board Director
- Shawn Dewane, CalDesal – Immediate Past Chair
- Mesa Water District Board President
- Gregory Quist, Ph.D, Urban Water Institute – Board Chair
- Rincon del Diablo Municipal Water District – Board Director
In the average year, California receives about 190 million acre-feet of precipitation. However, we rarely experience an average year. This year, we are blessed with an abundant supply of snow storage in the Sierra. But the inability to bank this bounty, beyond our existing reservoirs, is a serious missed opportunity. This wonderful wet winter will ironically elevate political complacency around one of the state’s most vital necessities – a reliable and sustainable water supply.
Precipitation in California is highly variable, which can lead to extreme drought and forced conservation, or extreme precipitation and flooding. Unfortunately, there is not adequate water storage capacity to buffer both extremes. Boosting capacity and improving conveyance have so many benefits, including more reliable drinking and irrigation supplies; improved flood protection; carbon-free hydropower generation; timelier, colder water flows for fish, especially threatened and endangered species; environmental enhancement; and recreational opportunities that serve our growing population and boost local economies. In times when a crisis is a shame to waste, there are those who obsess with permanent conservation and environmental regulations while more fresh water flows through the Golden Gate into the Pacific Ocean….
More on this from the Modesto Bee
Written for the Modesto Bee
