The $2.7 Billion Question: How Should Cali Store Water?

California is in the midst of setting high-stakes water policies as the state enters its fifth year of severe drought.

“Big decisions loom. What parts of California’s water system, the most elaborate in the world, need fixing the most? And how can it be done in a way that helps the state’s enormous farm economy, which uses huge amounts of water, without sacrificing the needs of its cities or the environment?” The New York Times recently reported.

Among the most pressing questions: How to store water for farmers.

“The state must decide how best to save the water that arrives between the drought years, weighing the value of billion-dollar construction projects against smaller and less expensive measures,” the report said. “The path California chooses will affect people across the United States and even around the world.”

Policymakers have some funding available, but there is little consensus about how best to use it. Last year, voters approved $7.1 billion in bonds for water projects. An outline of the measure shows $2.7 billion was slated to go to water storage.

But how should the water-storage funding be spent? Many farmers are advocating for dam-building, an approach that was popular in the 20th century.

“Not far from this tiny hamlet northeast of Fresno, for instance, the government is thinking of building a new artificial lake just above an existing one,” the report said. “Yet, as agricultural interests prepare a major push to get water projects built, doubts are growing about whether spending huge sums to pour high walls of concrete are the best way to solve California’s water problems.”

“Many independent experts, and almost all environmental groups, argue that dams would supply relatively little water for the money. They contend that Californians need to move aggressively to more modern methods of water management, reducing waste to a minimum and learning to live within the limits imposed by an arid environment,” the report said.

Another option: aquifers. The report explained:

It turns out that California already has a place to store immense amounts of water, without necessarily building new dams. Decades of overpumping have left the state’s water-bearing formations, known as aquifers, with enormous spare capacity. By some estimates, California could pump 10 times as much water into the aquifers as could be held by the new dams on the drawing board. Such groundwater storage is already occurring in parts of the state, mainly in urban areas. It is not a perfect solution for agriculture: Water pumped into the ground and then pulled back out can pick up salts and other pollutants.

As the state struggles to set storage policies, one thing’s clear: Water cuts are not going away any time soon.

California Governor Jerry Brown has issued an order that will likely extend deep cuts in water use beyond the original February end date and well into next fall.

In a new executive order, “the governor said that if the drought continues through January, mandatory water cuts will remain in effect until October. Brown's original order, issued in April, was effective only until February,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

For all things drought, visit Water Online’s Water Scarcity Solutions Center.