Future Water Supply Elicits Some Optimism But Cuts Appear Inevitable
By Tim Linden W ater has long been listed as one of the two most important elements when considering the future of California farming. Agricultural experts often put it at the top of the list or sometimes in second place with labor issues edging it out. There is some optimism about the labor situation moving forward as there appears to be momentum for federal immigration reform with the new administration and there is also a lot of technological innovation that promises to reduce the need for labor with automation. But what about water? What are the prospects that future generations of California farmers will have a reliable water supply and an affordable rate? Gail Delihant, who is senior director of California Government Affairs for Western Growers with water issues in her portfolio, said that is the question that farmers need answered. It is the $64,000 question. She said Western Growers members are of course interested in the details. Will there be new above-ground storage facilities built? How much groundwater will they be able to use? Will there be new conveyance infrastructure to get more water through and around the Delta? What environmental hurdles need to be jumped? But at the end of the day, she said it boils down to cost and availability. WG&S discussed this basic question with more than a handful of players in the California water game including several water district representatives and water association executives. What emerged was a consensus that the current effort to forestall regulatory action by signing 15-year Voluntary Agreements between governmental agencies and the water districts to provide water for habitat restoration while studying that effort is critical to moving forward. Virtually all of those interviewed also expressed guarded optimism that new infrastructure will be part of the long-range solution and that
production agriculture will always be part of the California landscape. However, there appeared to be a realization that some productive farmland—including a significant amount in the San Joaquin Valley—will have to be transitioned to other uses or fallowed as part of the solution. There was also disagreement about just how positive a spin one should put on the prospects of supply certainty if it means further reductions. Should the proverbial half-full glass of water be celebrated or bemoaned. Following are the boiled down viewpoints of seven water experts. They are presented here in the order in which the interview occurred, denoting no bias of importance of the affiliation. Jennifer Pierre, general manager, State Water Contractors The SWC is a voluntary association of 27 of the 29 public water agencies that are State Water Project contractors. The association provides representation for the group concerning legal, policy and regulatory matters dealing with the project. Pierre said SWC is moving down many different parallel tracks with the ultimate goal of preserving and increasing the water supply of its members, which, in turn, serve agriculture and urban users alike. She said the group is focused on many areas including infrastructure changes and improvements, better
managements of water flow using sound science to guide those decisions, and increasing Delta outflow. Concerning the Delta, Pierre presented a viewpoint early in the discussion that was echoed by virtually every interviewee: the current system of managing water through the Delta simply doesn’t work. It reduces the flow of water for agriculture and other users, increases the amount of used water that flows out to the Pacific Ocean, and has had no beneficial effect on fish populations. It’s a lose, lose, lose. She focused much of the interview on the Voluntary Agreements work that SWA and water agencies have been working on for more than a year. “We’ve done a ton of work and are now ready for the state to take a leadership role.” Pierre explained that if the state and federal agencies sign off on this approach, the voluntary agreements will create a collaborative system to managing the flow in and out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay-Delta. The goal is that sound science and creative thinking will replace “the complete spaghetti bowl of litigation” that is in the works. The State Water Quality Control Board would be one of the agencies accepting the negotiated voluntary agreements in lieu of its mandatory regulations. The goal is that a 15-year plan can be put in place and carefully studied while assuring that State Water Project contractors of some certainty concerning
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