There is a lot of drought news right now! I read several thought-provoking stories last week about the ongoing California drought. On Sunday (April 5), the New York Times ran the first-page, above-the-fold story "California Image vs. Dry Reality" The image above from the electronic version of the story is similar to the color photo that took up a third of the front page. The photo is startling, portraying a disconnect between the comfortable lives so many of us continue to lead while ignoring the realities of the desert we live in.
Jerry Brown is quoted, "For over 10,000 years, people lived in California, but the number of those people were never more than 300,000 or 400,000 . . . Now we are embarked upon an experiment that no one has ever tried: 38 million people, with 32 million vehicles, living at the level of comfort that we all strive to attain. This will require adjustment. This will require learning."
Governor Brown recently announced a mandatory 25% reduction in water consumption in municipalities. There is a useful interactive map from this article, illustrating Californians' daily per capita water consumption by region. Using this map, it is also possible to view how Californians have changed their water consumption since 2013 and how Gov. Brown's mandate will affect different regions. Takeaway messages:
1. Conservation matters. Areas that have conservation initiatives are using less water.
2. We should stop watering the grass. Regions with large, landscaped areas use more water than average.
3. Daly City, what did you do to reduce your water consumption by 41% since 2013? This is a success story!
Farmers have already reduced their water consumption through loss of surface water rights and recent limits on groundwater pumping, as discussed in "Beneath California Crops, Groundwater Crisis Grows". While California has been at the forefront of numerous environmental issues, California has just begun to regulate groundwater pumping. This image (seen better if you go to the article) shows changes in well water heights - red dots indicating decreases, and blue dots indicating increases. The takeaway message: groundwater is much lower now than in 2009.
"In the midst of this water crisis, Gov. Jerry Brown and his legislative allies pulled off something of a political miracle last year, overcoming decades of resistance from the farm lobby to adopt the state’s first groundwater law with teeth. California, so far ahead of the country on other environmental issues, became the last state in the arid West to move toward serious limits on the use of its groundwater."
Experts point to management of surface and groundwater as essential to a sustainable water supply in California. At the same, time, there is no plan to tell farmers what to plant. In the last 20 years, acreage planted in almonds has doubled even though one almond can require as much as a gallon of water to produce. In times of drought, fields of water-thirsty trees and vines can't go without water without the trees dying.
Criticism of Gov. Brown's plan revolves around cries of politics and special interests like the farm lobby as mentioned above. In another example, on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle's Bay Area Section D on (Sunday, April 5), Willie Brown writes, "(Jerry) Brown got a lot of attention with his visit to the nonexistent snowpack in the Sierra. But if he's been serious, he would have been down in Palm Springs calling for them to turn off the water on the golf courses."
The New Yorker article from April 8, "Who's To Blame for California's Drought?" describes how politics may be influencing California water policy but ultimately concludes that recent conservation policies reflect complicated multilayered negotiations. Cutting back on watering urban landscapes is "low-hanging fruit" since it accounts for about half of city water use "with little social benefit", unlike eating the produce California farmers produce.
This brings up the topic of whether we are growing and eating appropriate quantities and types of produce and livestock in California considering our arid climate and ongoing drought. I plan to look into diet in more depth in another post soon, but for now the clear messages I can take away are:
1. Restricting urban irrigation is a good idea. Succulent gardens are lovely too.
2. Neil deGrasse Tyson is right - We need to vote for politicians who will advocate for policies in line with what scientists and experts advocate. This means paying a lot more time educating myself about things like surface water rights and groundwater pumping so that I will be an informed voter on these important policy issues.
3. Sustainable water management in line with our water supply is vital.
4. Our lifestyles matter: farmers will not choose to grow crops they can't sell. We can make lifestyle choices in line with what we know to be best practices, and our behaviors can influence the marketplace.
5. As we all grow more conscious of the California drought, we may have to face the hard truth that it is time to give up some of our comforts. Are we prepared to do that? Behavior change is incredibly difficult. By the way, we are still not flushing, and the Navy showers are fine.
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