THE CALIFORNIA WATER CRISIS

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California suffers from periodic droughts, a state population that has grown to 38 million, an antiquated water delivery system, and government regulations and recent court rulings that restrict pumping of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Californians face monumental challenges in meeting the water demands of its current and future populations. Compounding the problem is that the public remains largely unaware of the major issues facing the state’s water supply. Ensuring a water supply that can meet the needs of urban, rural and environmental uses will be California’s biggest challenge in the 21st century. Without a focused effort on developing a comprehensive statewide plan to the water crisis, California will follow a path of economic and environmental decline.

One of the major obstacles to resolving the California’s water crisis is the lack of public consciousness on regarding the value of water. Continued efforts in recent years in to promote both conservation education and water management solutions have helped  some Californians to understand the importance of water for agriculture, business and industry, the environment, and homes and gardens.  But we still have a long way to go. Different groups of water users and stakeholders have a wide range of opinions on the highest and best use of water and the value of this limited natural resource.  One of the primary goals of CalWA is to facilitate dialogue among all water users and bring about the serious debate necessary to continue the progress Californians have made on this sensitive issue.

Another major obstacle is the honest assessment and realization that California’s  Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta has reached a critical point in its infrastructure safety and contamination/pollution is jeopardizing the delivery and water quality supplies to more than 25 million residents downstream.  The River Delta also delivers water to 2.5 million acres of productive farmland and is the largest natural estuary on the West Coast.  The consequence of inaction to build a new infrastructure to support the current and future needs of all Californians  will be a humanitarian and economic devastation like no other we have seen in our time. The Public Policy Institute of California estimated that this type of catastrophic failure would cost our economy $40 billion and cut off water supplies for 25 million Californian’s for up to two years.

It is up to all of us to get involved, to be informed and to educate each other about California’s water crisis.  Failure to act now and to address this crisis could mean shortages of water to families, farms and businesses; severe damage to California’s economy; damage to the environment and threats to public health; and risk of catastrophic failure to our levees and other water delivery infrastructure.  The California Water Alliance is dedicated to reaching out and developing the relationships necessary to bridge and build a statewide coalition that takes action in bringing a comprehensive solution to California’s water crisis.