California Floods: Water Infrastructure Wake-Up Call?
By Sara Jerome,
@sarmje
Experts say California’s water infrastructure is not built for the age of climate change.
Intense flooding has followed years of drought in the state, and water infrastructure systems have been heavily taxed in the process. Along with evacuations near the Oroville Dam, the rain and flooding “stressed thousands of miles of levees and flood infrastructure downstream of the major dams,” KQED reported.
Some critics say the events were “a wake-up call,” according to the report.
“This shouldn’t be a surprise,” said Noah Diffenbaugh, climate scientist at Stanford University, per the report. “It’s actually exactly what’s been predicted by scientists for at least 30 years.”
He said climate change may intensify flooding and drought events in the state.
“If it’s hot out, water is going to evaporate,” he said. “And that’s what happens with soils. We’re getting more frequent occurrences of low precipitation leading to drought because the temperatures are higher.”
A key example of how the state is not prepared for today’s climate: “California’s flood system can handle that slow melt, but isn’t really equipped for a huge amount of runoff all at once, Diffenbaugh says.”
What can be done to improve water infrastructure? Very little without serious funding.
“One of the big holes in our water system is that we don’t have very good regular funding for flood control,” said Jay Lund, director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at University of California, Davis.
The cost of fixing infrastructure after the flooding is expected to be steep.
“The bill to repair California's crumbling roads, dams and other critical infrastructure hammered by an onslaught of storms this winter could top $1 billion, including nearly $600 million alone for damaged roadways that more than doubles what the state budgeted for road repair emergencies,” the Associated Press reported, citing state officials.
The tally for overhauling the state’s water infrastructure for long-term resilience would run even higher. Governor Jerry Brown pointed this out during a presentation encouraging lawmakers to invest in flood control.
“Brown urged that lawmakers spend $437 million for flood control. It is a modest request, though not nearly enough, as he readily acknowledged by displaying charts showing that upgrading California’s water infrastructure, including 1,500 dams and thousands of miles of levees, would cost $50 billion,” The Fresno Bee reported.
Is water infrastructure about to see a flood of new funding? It’s unclear. Nevertheless, in the aftermath of the drought and the floods, the Bee says that in California, “suddenly infrastructure is sexy.”
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