[env-trinity] Sac Bee Editorial July 12

[Byron]

Editorial: Water's coming battle; Global warming will shape local debate

Sacramento Bee - 7/12/06

 

A new report warning of global warming's effect on California highlights the
different approaches for solving the problem of a shrinking water supply. 

 

When it comes to calibrating water supply and demand, two opposing political
philosophies rule. There is the concrete crowd that wants to increase
supply. And there is a conservation crowd that seeks to lower the demand.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger likened this to a "holy war" when he and
legislators couldn't agree on a state bond for water and flood control
challenges. He wasn't exaggerating. And the political gridlock, and its
dangerous implications, might worsen as the Sierra snowpack starts to melt. 

 

The new 338-page analysis by the California Department of Water Resources
signals two colossal policy debates. First is the Sierra. These days in an
"average" winter, the melting Sierra snow provides about 14 million
acre-feet of water supply. As it slowly melts, it gets captured downstream
by Central Valley reservoirs that can hold 24.5 million acre-feet of water.
By 2050, however, the average snowpack is likely to diminish by more than a
third. 

 

That means closer to 9 million acre-feet of snowfall rather than 14 million
acre-feet. And it means more precipitation falling as rain rather than as
snow, making it harder for the reservoirs to capture for the long summer the
same amount of water. The dwindling snowpack could reduce deliveries of
Sierra supplies to Southern California and Central Valley farmers by 10
percent. 

 

Then there is the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. By 2050, the world's melting
snowpack and glaciers could raise the sea level by a foot.

 

 Southern California and Valley farmers pump their water in the Delta. The
sea level rise would push salty ocean water into the Delta. 

 

Absent changes, the only solution would be to release more reservoir water
from the Sierra into the Delta to push back the salty water. But that
approach would only aggravate the problem of reservoirs' limited water
supply due to the dwindling snowpack. 

 

The singular political fixation on reservoirs as good or evil creates a set
of false choices. Instead, a stockbroker's mind-set about a diverse
portfolio would be the better approach. On the supply side, there is
groundwater storage or better groundwater management, recycled treated
water, desalinated water, better conveyance (particularly around the salty
Delta) and, yes, reservoirs. The demand side has the urban conservation
techniques environmentalists love as well as something they hate -- money
for farmers to lower their water use while maintaining their crop
production. 

 

The right mix of solutions depends on the specific circumstances and
terrain. The wrong solution is to think concrete or conservation alone can
solve all our problems.

 

 

Byron Leydecker

Chair, Friends of Trinity River

Advisor, California Trout, Inc

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 ph

415 383 9562 fx

bwl3 at comcast.net

bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org

http://www.fotr.org

http:www.caltrout.org 

 

 

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