Of Water And Propaganda

Last week, the most recent drought map for California was released showing that the area of extreme drought, D4, has increased once again. There have been so many announcements and articles in the press that it is hard to keep up. It was bad enough before Governor Brown’s announcement of mandatory water rationing on April 1st, but now pardon the pun the constant trickle has become a flood. Not only are there a lot of articles, but the Governor’s order keeps getting edited and changed. Just this past Saturday, the California State Water Resources Control Board issued new directives incorporating some of the feedback they already received (

http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/drought/emergency_mandatory_regulations.shtml

Links to all comments received:

http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/drought/comments041315/index.shtml )

The reality however is that in agency’s push to accommodate all the feedback they have essentially forgotten that water is a zero sum game. By setting per person allocations the water agency has to a large extent favored dense urban environments that have high concentrations of people living in multi-unit spaces. In addition if the Governor’s mandatory water reduction program is based on per person 2013 consumption patterns, what happens if someone wasn’t born or living in the state in 2013. Do they have to bring water with them from wherever they came? Given that this is a zero sum resource would it not make more sense to in addition to using per person guidelines also give maximum real allocations (see more below) based on municipality gross numbers in 2013. Finally why are we focusing only on water consumed through our home water supplier instead of our total water footprint meaning including the water that our dietary and living choices consume. ( http://waterfootprint.org/en/)

As can be seen from the comments list each industry, organization and agency is lobbying for their users. One letter notes that farmers in San Diego County have been designated part of the urban landscape and subject to ”the same restrictions designed to curb excessive landscape irrigation.” ( http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/drought/comments041315/alysha_stehly.pdf ) Another letter notes: ”Stockton and Sacramento have much higher temperatures and less rain (especially in this drought) then the coastal cities.” (

http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/drought/comments041315/tom_simpson.pdf)

Our local Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency (BAWSCA) was one of the agencies lobbying for additional tiers (http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/drought/comments041315/nicole_sandkulla.pdf).

In addition to comments related to the Governor’s mandate, there are comments in the media and other outlets. The almond farmers are arguing that at least some of them switched from cotton at a time when water was essentially plentiful in California and they expected most of the water they would need to use to come from their federal allocation which has seen been reduced to zero. In addition in their effort to be frugal with water they have been at the forefront of implementing the most effective and state of the art drip irrigation systems available. ( http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-gleason-almond-farmer-20150326-story.html)

Some city council members are arguing their residents need not to be concerned because their city is not using its complete allocation and therefore there is plenty of water. ”People think getting 50% is terrible,” Ellen Hanak a water expert at the Public Policy Institute in California notes. “They don’t know that 50% is normal.” The fact is that the water industry is more like the airplane industry run amok overbooking planes left, right and center. Pretty soon like the airplane industry, the water industry is going to have to start turning people away and telling them that the plane is full and that they need to wait for the next plane to get to their destination or in this case some water. (http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-cap-drought-water-20150413-column.html

http://redwoodcity-ca.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=1840 minute 13.40)

The bottom line is if you need water you only have three places to look for it. There is water that is above ground stored in clouds or moisture in the air that periodically comes down be it in morning condensation, rain or snow form. There is water that is on the ground be it in lakes, reservoirs, rivers or oceans. There is water that is below ground in aquifers.

Early nomads settled near bodies of water like rivers and lakes simply because that allowed them constant access to water and inured them against the vagaries of the weather. As people settled further and further away from ground water natural reservoirs they tended to dig wells and if they found water settle down.

This may all sound like the kind of thing that we learned in elementary school, but four things have happened in the last hundred years that have put tremendous pressure on this system. First of all we have had a population explosion. More people need more water and more food and create more waste. Second we have polluted a lot of our natural reservoirs and waterways. Third we have installed dams, dykes and diversions that have changed the course of water ways without our having full understood the consequences to the entire ecosystem. Fourth we have drilled deep and depleted our real water savings account our aquifers and refilled them with tainted waters and at that in the good times.

So while a percentage of the population can be upset that Governor Brown didn’t touch the agricultural industry, the reality is that in a sense the choice is food or water. Some will say that the food is exported and should therefore be better grown elsewhere where there is water. However in elementary school we also learned that for successful plant growth we also need photosynthesis or in other words sunlight. Generally areas that have a lot of water don’t have a lot of sun. The reason California’s central valley feeds so much of the country with the water that they get is because of the amount of sunlight they get. Unless we are talking about tubers or potatoes, the citrus, nuts and green vegetables that we will get with the same amount of water in places like Idaho will simply not compare to the same products grown in California. Nonetheless on an international scale we do need to start understanding that food exports are also water exports. If we don’t have enough water locally or nationally should we really be exporting water in the form of food.

More people more water. More people more food. And finally more people more waste. Increasing amounts of waste are now also polluting our waterways either directly in the form of sewage or indirectly in forms such as the fracking industry’s waste water disposal. For the reality is that moving water from place to place is the single biggest consumer of power in the country. I remember when the question was how much oil is in your water? As in how much oil do we need to import to be able to move water from one place to another be it wholesale pressurized water that comes in through your taps or retail food and drinks that must be transported across long distances before they enter your home.

In conclusion although some individuals, organizations and or government entities are fighting, requesting changes and reductions to the Governor’s mandate; the truly visionary ones will not only support the Governor but take this opportunity to make a difference by putting in place even stronger local, regional and national programs to ensure that not only this generation has enough water but that the next ones do too.

If you agree please sign and help spread the word about our petition at:

https://www.change.org/p/city-of-redwood-city-immediately-put-in-place-a-building-moratorium-2