California's Outdated Plumbing Puts Economy at Risk

Even as rains drench the fields and orchards in California Central Valley, Bill Diedrich is still calculating losses from the regional other defining extreme: severe drought. Diedrich grows pistachios, almonds, tomatoes, cotton and other crops in the Central Valley, and has seen firsthand the devastating effects of the drought.

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Diedrich was forced to divert water meant for tomatoes to partially hydrate 350 acres (142 hectares) of almond trees just a few months ago. "It's like not feeding your child all they need," he said. "Our food security depends on the water supply."

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The recent spate of atmospheric rivers that have hit California have brought much needed rain to the state, but they have also highlighted the state's outdated water infrastructure. With climate change causing more extreme weather conditions, California's water system, which was designed and built between the 1930s and 1970s, is struggling to keep up. This is a major problem for a state that is reliant on agriculture and needs a reliable water supply to maintain its economic power.

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The record-setting rain has caused flooding across the country, with saturated fields, overflowing rivers and streams, and overwhelmed drainage systems. The floodwaters have now reached the coast, causing further damage. "We see wet years come and go, and then we worry when it's dry because we haven't been able to save enough when it was wet," said Mike Wade, executive director of the California Farm Water Coalition, a Sacramento nonprofit group.

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Since the early 20th century, California’s growth has depended on capturing, storing and transporting water from the northern part of the state and the Sierra Nevada Mountains to farms in the Central Valley and cities in relatively arid southern California.

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The state and federal governments funded monumental engineering projects in the 1930s and 1960s, which fueled population and economic growth. These projects included the California State Water Project and the Central Valley Project. Through irrigation, these projects transformed the Central Valley into the world’s most productive agricultural region. Today, the state’s growers produce one-third of US vegetables and 75% of US fruit and nut crops, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. This generates more than $50 billion in annual revenue.

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However, the state's infrastructure was not designed for the current climate, according to Peter Gleick, a climatologist and co-founder of the Pacific Institute, a nonprofit research group in Oakland. He said that it is time to rethink how we operate the existing infrastructure and what kind of new infrastructure we need, given the increasing extreme events that climate change is bringing.

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The systems of dams and aqueducts that were once heralded as engineering marvels are now contributing to current problems, said Ellen Hanak, director of the PPIC Water Policy Center. This is because natural habitats and drainage systems were paved over or diverted, which means that excess rain that could have been absorbed by the ground now turns into torrential runoff.

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Hanak argues that California's biggest challenge in the future will be to find a way to balance ecological and economic interests, such as agriculture. One possible solution is to capture more surface water, but this would require building reservoirs and other above-ground structures, which can be expensive and difficult to site.
A more economical and ecologically sound method of recharge groundwater is by channeling water so it can flow into natural underground aquifers. This has the potential to benefit agricultural and urban users said Hanak.

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In 2014, California voters approved $7.5 billion in bonds to restore watersheds, improve water quality and water infrastructure, including $2.7 billion in funding for water storage projects. But unlike the grand engineering feats of the last century, today's California water projects require decades to bring online, with years spent on environmental, regulatory and planning reviews.

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Construction has not yet begun on any of the seven projects approved by the California Water Commission, and the new storage structures are scheduled to come online between 2025 and 2030. The drought conditions in California have improved after weeks of downpour. This is good news for the state, which has been struggling with a severe drought for several years.

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Governor Gavin Newsom has acknowledged concerns about the prolonged timeline of the water storage projects authorized in 2014. Speaking at a press conference in Sacramento on Tuesday, Newsom said that the current process is leading to paralysis. He has appointed "strike teams" to resolve the permitting bottlenecks among local, state, and federal agencies.

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The frustration that farmers and residents feel about the worsening water situation in California is a recurring theme.