Paul (third from left) at Monterey One Water as part of an influencer education tour.
Paul emphasized that growers are already taking significant steps to use water more efficiently. Between 1980 and 2015, farm production value increased approximately 38 percent while agricultural water use declined 14 percent, which she attributed to improvements in irrigation and farm management. “Growers are more efficient with their water today than ever before,” she said. “On-farm growers are leaning hard into technology with soil moisture, using automated irrigation systems and looking to more efficient practices.” But efficiency alone cannot close the gap. “We can’t just conserve our way out of the water supply gap,” Paul said. “The gap is too big.” The challenge now is implementing groundwater regulations that protect the resource while allowing growers and the communities that depend on agriculture to remain viable. “SGMA needs to be implemented in a way that allows growers to survive and care for their community and their workers, in a really thoughtful and achievable way,” Paul said. Infrastructure, Technology and the Path Forward As groundwater pumping becomes increasingly constrained, Paul sees investing in increased storage capacity and surface water conveyance as two of the most important areas for policymakers to address. Most of California’s major water storage infrastructure was built decades ago, when the state had half the population it does today, and Paul said, “We just haven’t kept up with it.” While the solution sounds simple enough—modernize water infrastructure—she said the path forward is challenging from a regulatory and cost perspective. “And infrastructure projects that are most viable take a really long time before the shovel hits the ground,” she added. When a project gets approved or begins to move forward, it is often met with legal pushback, which further delays any solution being implemented, including the long-discussed proposal to raise Shasta Dam. Since contending with the politics surrounding water can take years, Paul thinks increased use of modern technology could be an answer for moving forward and in the right direction with how California manages and moves water. This includes greater investment in forecasting technology, reservoir operations, conveyance infrastructure and groundwater recharge. “We’ve got to use updated technology, like using aerial devices for snow forecasts, to understand what the snowpack looks like
are increasing,” Paul said. “And that makes it very difficult to look at historical averages, which has typically been the way in which water operators, and the regulations, have allocated water.” The result is a system in which multiple pressures can compound one another, and Paul emphasized the urgency in building a more reliable water system. The overlapping legal, operational and supply constraints are exactly what producers contend with when allocation decisions arrive after planting, budgeting and harvest operations are already underway. Paul cited a recent example: In August, Central Valley Project south-of-delta contractors received a 3 percent increase in water allocation, bringing final delivery from 25 percent to 28 percent of their contract total. While additional water is valuable, the timing presented a challenge for growers who were already preparing for or actively harvesting their crops. “It’s extremely difficult to account for and plan ways to maximize that water use when you don’t get that information until The need for more reliable surface water is also closely tied to California’s efforts to manage groundwater, which Paul said has usually been utilized to fill in the gap as surface water deliveries have become more constrained. But that safety net is tightening too, as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) limits pumping to protect aquifers and prevent subsidence. The result is a narrowing set of choices at the very moment growers need flexibility most. The effects of SGMA implementation also extend beyond the farm itself. When less land can be farmed, workers can see reduced hours, and rural communities can lose economic activity, tax revenue and investment. “Agriculture is a big engine that keeps them going,” Paul very, very late in the year,” said Paul. Closing the Water Reliability Gap said of rural communities. “So if you remove that tax base and the amount of investment that comes into these rural, often socioeconomically challenged areas of the state, you have some real significant impacts on the economy that are very challenging to mitigate.” Paul at an almond orchard as part of a Cultivate CA social media collaboration with the Maddox Farm Boys.
39 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com October – December 2026
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