[env-trinity] PPIC Water Policy Center: Five Things You Need to Know About Water

Thu Apr 16 16:27:43 PDT 2015

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Five Things You Need to Know About Water
http://www.ppic.org/main/blog_detail.asp?i=1736

 <http://www.ppic.org/main/bio.asp?i=72> Ellen Hanak April 06, 2015 

http://www.ppic.org/content/images/ev-imgHanakWPCLaunch0415-embed.jpgWe
marked the launch of the  <http://www.ppic.org/water/> PPIC Water Policy
Center by convening a panel of leading experts to discuss key issues in
state water policy. Participants were Richard Frank, director of the
California Environmental Law and Policy Center at the UC Davis law school;
Matthew Rodriquez, secretary of the California Environmental Protection
Agency; and Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and
Agriculture. Moderating the conversation was Lois Kazakoff, deputy editorial
page editor at the San Francisco Chronicle. We invite you to watch the full
presentation and discussion.

Before the panel discussion, I gave a brief opening talk called "Five Things
You Need to Know About Water." Here is a summary of the five points:

Water is complicated. There are no silver bullet solutions to California's
water problems-whether it be desalination, new reservoirs, or conservation.
We need to be thinking about combining a lot of different tools and
strategies. This also means that there are almost always unintended
consequences, even for solutions that seem like no brainers. As an example,
there's a lot of public interest-and funding-now available for increasing
local drought resilience by reusing treated wastewater. However, more water
reuse often means less treated wastewater gets returned to rivers and
streams, where it provides important environmental benefits and supplies for
downstream communities. This doesn't mean we shouldn't be doing these
projects, but it does mean we need to be aware of the consequences and
trade-offs.

We have to go after more than the low-hanging fruit. The low-hanging fruit
types of solutions tend to be incremental and piecemeal in nature. This is
fine for things that can change incrementally, like improving water use
efficiency. But some tough problems-like meeting the co-equal goals of water
supply reliability and ecosystem sustainability in the Delta-will require
tough, expensive, and politically difficult solutions.

Water solutions almost always have both winners and losers. This is obvious
in a case like the Delta, where it's simply not possible to find a fix that
will make everyone better off. That's because every available option
involves tradeoffs in which at least one party doesn't fare as well, whether
it's farmers in the Delta, farmers in the San Joaquin Valley, urban
residents south of the Delta, or the Delta's native fish and wildlife. It's
also true for projects that people like to think of as win-win, such as
flood protection projects that move levees back to make more room for
rivers. These projects also improve wildlife habitat, but they usually cost
more than traditional flood control projects. As a society, we can aim for
solutions that get the most benefits per dollar spent, but we also need to
consider how to soften the blow if some groups are disproportionately
bearing the costs. 

Crises create hardship, but also opportunity. In particular, crises create
openings to achieve major reforms that might not be possible in normal
times. Thanks to a string of crises-and to bold action by leaders at the
local, state, and federal levels-California is now experiencing a period of
extraordinary change in water policy: In 2007, in the wake of Hurricane
Katrina in New Orleans, we enacted legislation that doubled the federal
standard of flood protection for cities in the Central Valley. In 2009, in
the third year of drought, we adopted a legislative package that required
more conservation, better water use reporting, and a new governance
structure for the Delta. In 2014, in the midst of a much more severe
drought, we enacted historic legislation that empowers and requires local
agencies to sustainably manage our threatened groundwater basins. Much work
lies ahead to effectively implement all of these reforms, and more big
changes will be needed in other areas, such as finding ways to fill critical
funding gaps in our water system. 

It's hard work, but it's not hopeless. We've been making progress in
addressing some key challenges, including improving the reliability and
quality of our water supplies, and preparing to weather droughts and floods.
Perhaps the toughest-and most conflict-ridden-challenge we face in
California water is reversing the decline of our native aquatic ecosystems,
which have been failing despite several decades of well-intentioned
environmental laws and investments. But even here, one can point to
promising approaches. There's the example of Putah Creek, where the
reintroduction of natural, variable flow patterns-albeit with just a
fraction of the water nature used to provide-has favored the return of
native species. There's also the example of the Knagg's Ranch in the Yolo
Bypass, where leaving fields flooded a little longer before planting rice is
making it possible to fatten up young salmon before they make their way back
to the ocean, giving them a better chance of survival. These are creative
examples from the playbook of "reconciliation ecology," a pragmatic approach
to managing our ecosystems alongside continued human uses of water and land
resources. 

These five immutable facts about California water guide the
<http://www.ppic.org/water/> work of our center. California needs to ground
policy decisions in reliable, non-partisan, science-based diagnoses of
problems and potential solutions. That's how we-along with our research
partners throughout the state-hope to contribute to a better water future.

TOPICS:  <http://www.ppic.org/main/blog_index.asp?topic=15> Water

TAGS:  <http://www.ppic.org/main/blog_index.asp?tag=Delta> Delta,
<http://www.ppic.org/main/blog_index.asp?tag=drought> drought,
<http://www.ppic.org/main/blog_index.asp?tag=ecosystems> ecosystems,
<http://www.ppic.org/main/blog_index.asp?tag=floods> floods,
<http://www.ppic.org/main/blog_index.asp?tag=water%20quality> water quality,
<http://www.ppic.org/main/blog_index.asp?tag=water%20supply> water supply

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