[env-trinity] Riverside Press-Enterprise 1-12-11

[Byron Leydecker]

Water peril

 

	
			

 

10:00 PM PST on Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The Press-Enterprise 

The recent heavy rains do not resolve the water challenges facing the state.
State and local elected officials, water agencies and consumers all have
roles to play in securing an ample long-term supply of water. And that task
requires addressing threats to the state's primary water system, expanding
water storage and making more efficient use of existing supplies.

The heavy precipitation of late December and early January was good news for
a state that wrestles with drought. The state's mountain snowpack stands at
nearly twice normal levels for this point in the year, the state Department
of Water resources announced late last month. The mountain snow, which melts
and runs off in the hot summer months, is a key source of water for
California.

The water agency said the high snow levels would likely increase the
deliveries available through the State Water Project, which sends water from
Northern California to drier areas of the state. The agency last year
projected it could supply 50 percent of the exports for 2011 requested by
water providers across the state, but now says that figure will go higher.

Californians should not let that good news lull them into complacency,
however. State and local government, water agencies and average residents
still have much to do in ensuring sufficient water for a state with large
arid regions and a growing population.

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta remains in danger, for example. Water that
flows through the estuary serves two-thirds of the state's population and
irrigates millions of acres of farmland. Yet the delta faces threats from
environmental decline and eroding levees that put future water exports at
risk. The most sensible solution is a channel to send water around the
delta, which would protect exports while easing environmental woes. But that
idea remains a political flashpoint.

The state also needs to boost oversight of pumping from underground
aquifers, which account for 30 percent of California water supplies. The
Legislature took the first steps toward monitoring groundwater use in 2009.
But the state cannot afford to let those with groundwater rights recklessly
drain a crucial source of water.

The recent rains also highlight the need for state and local agencies to
expand efforts to catch and store storm-water runoff. The state's long-range
climate projections suggest that in coming decades, mountain snow will not
conveniently store enough water for summer. Instead, the state will need to
collect more winter rain to supply the dry months.

And California will need to boost efforts statewide to conserve, recycle and
reuse enough water for the future.

Rain and snow are always welcome in a state that suffers periodic droughts.
But while big storms help, California needs a more viable long-term water
policy than relying on wet winters alone.

 

 

Byron Leydecker, JcT

Chair, Friends of Trinity River

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 land

415 519 4810 mobile

 <mailto:bwl3 at comcast.net> bwl3 at comcast.net

 <mailto:bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org> bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org
(secondary)

 <http://fotr.org/> http://www.fotr.org 

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20110113/98167076/attachment.html>