California's Water Conservation Efforts

Source: The Washington Post

California’s water conservation and reduction efforts have been a necessity for the state for many years now. But as climate change had continued to fuel a lingering, five year-long drought, the efforts to save water have intensified in attempts to make sure the state can continue to feed the country and quell the concerns of its own residents’ water needs.

In January 2015, Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency due to the drought. Soon after he imposed strict statewide water conservation measures, aiming to curtail the amount of water use and reduce it by 25% in the state overall over nine months. For the first time, voluntary restrictions were replaced with mandatory restrictions. Though agricultural pursuits use about 80% of the state’s water, the conservation measures impacted residential use much more than agricultural, focusing on reducing lawn and outdoor landscape irrigation. Gov. Brown stated concerns about the Central Valley being able to continue providing a majority of the country’s produce and nuts, a number of which California is the top producer (Water.ca.gov). In 2015, it was recorded that in Palm Springs, daily water use was as high as 201 gallons per person (CBS News). In 2016, the average statewide residential water use was 85 gallons per person, per day (Lao.ca.gov). The goal was to save almost 500 billion gallons of water in about a year. Of course, push-back was inevitable but citizens voiced valid concerns. Some worried about fire prevention efforts by way of landscape maintenance while others worried about the local economies and their tourism dollars typically brought in with the help of snow-making machines (Wall Street Journal).

The drought has been declared over since April 7, 2017, but that hasn't swayed Gov. Brown’s commitment to reducing water use in preparation for another drought. “Brown signed two bills, SB 606 by Sen. Robert Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) and AB 1668 by Assemblywoman Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), that require cities, water districts and large agricultural water districts to set strict annual water budgets, potentially facing fines of $1,000 per day if they don’t meet them, and $10,000 a day during drought emergencies “ (Mercury News). Though everyone wants to conserve water either for the good of the people or for industry, both bills have been met with resistance as people and industries disagree on what exactly is the best way to conserve the water. But it is immediately clear, with the frequency and size of California’s wildfires, that inaction may be just as risky as waiting for the perfect conservation plan. Opposite the doubts of Gov. Brown’s decisions, is some good news for farmers. In conjunction with these two bills, California’s first well monitoring program launched with plans to install more than 700 monitors on agricultural wells throughout the Oxnard Plain by late 2019 (VC Star). The program should help farmers conserve water, and in good time, with the clear threat of fines for water misuse on the horizon.

By Chelcee Bunkley