California's Potential Drought Declaration Could Trigger Water War
As California faces worsening drought conditions, a statewide drought declaration could instigate critical conservation efforts from businesses and residents. But it would also have significant political and economic ramifications.
“Many farmers believe an emergency order could loosen environmental regulations and free up water supplies for them,” as MSN explained. “Environmental groups fear the very same thing — that more of California’s dwindling water supply could be directed to farming at the expense of fish and wildlife.”
California has significant experience dealing with droughts. Just a few years ago, it was experiencing a five-year dry spell that had severe water-scarcity implications. And some lessons learned from that declaration are what is driving the current rivalry between farmers and conservationists.
Advocates of the state’s salmon population, for instance, have pointed to relaxed environmental standards from the last official drought as the cause of death for state wildlife, while farming advocates pointed to the importance of the state’s critical agriculture businesses.
“Farmers and environmentalists use the courts, the regulatory agencies and the Legislature to fight over how much water should flow naturally through the rivers — and how much should be pulled out of the rivers to nurture the state’s $50 billion-a-year agricultural industry,” per MSN. “When supplies get really tight, the rivalry intensifies, and two straight ultra-dry winters have left California leaders with difficult choices on how to balance the competing demands.”
Perhaps influenced by the fact that one side’s happiness will come at the expense of the other’s, California Governor Gavin Newsom has not yet declared a statewide emergency. Though it appears that one is inevitable, it would be unlikely to net him any popularity points with environmentalists or consumers.
“Newsom has so far resisted declaring a statewide emergency, saying conditions are tough but don’t yet warrant an official drought finding,” according to MSN. “In the last drought, urban Californians were forced to scale back their outdoor water usage, and some political pundits believe the Democratic governor is reluctant to announce bad news with a recall election heading to the ballot.”
Of course, the decision to make an official declaration or not will not change the fact that California is running out of drinking water.
To read more about how drought impacts consumers, visit Water Online’s Water Scarcity Solutions Center.