As California gets drier and hotter, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday unveiled a new water strategy that plans for a future with 10% less water and shifts the emphasis from conservation to capturing more water that otherwise flows out to sea.
Climate change has contributed to more severe drought but has also set the stage for more intense flooding when rain does fall, as was demonstrated last week in California's Death Valley, one of the hottest, driest parts of the United States.
"The hots are getting a lot hotter, the dries are getting a lot drier and ... the wets are getting wetter," Newsom said in announcing the plan at a desalination plant under construction in Antioch, 45 miles (72 kilometers) inland from San Francisco, that will turn brackish water into drinking water.
The state has budgeted more than $8 billion in the past three years to modernize water infrastructure that Newsom said would generate enough water for 8.4 million households in a state of 40 million people.
His plan calls for creating storage for 4 million acre-feet of water and recycling or reusing 800,000 acre-feet per year by 2030 in addition to more stormwater capture and desalination projects.
An acre-foot (1,233 cubic meters) of water is generally considered enough to supply two urban households per year.
It comes as drought continues to grip the U.S. West and the state prepares to lose 10% of its water supply by 2040, according to projections by the Department of Water Resources. The Democratic governor discussed the proposal at the construction site of a plant to remove salts from river water that should be fresh, the type of project he said the state needs more of in the coming years.
California and the West have experienced a megadrought since the turn of the century that some scientists have measured as the driest 22-year period in 1,200 years, with many of the conditions attributed to human-influenced climate change.
State officials estimate hotter and drier weather will reduce existing water supplies by 10% by 2040. In addition, the state's allotment of water from the Colorado River is expected to be cut next year, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials have told Congress.
Many consumers have ramped up conservation with the increased public awareness of recent years, Newsom said, leaving less room for additional cutbacks.
Meanwhile, the Colorado River, a key source of water for Southern California, has reached critically low levels. The Newsom administration hopes to reduce dependence on the river and other water exports.
"We're focused on creating more water," Newsom said.
Interest in water recycling is expanding across the West as states and cities see their water supplies threatened by extended droughts. About two dozen communities, including those in Nevada and Colorado, rely on some recycled water for drinking, but that number is expected to grow.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which provides water for nearly half the state's residents, is building a massive water recycling project. Congress included $1 billion for water reuse projects in the West in the infrastructure bill passed last year.
The plan doesn't have any revolutionary ideas for water management but includes key details about how the state can "move faster on some of the good ideas," said Ellen Hanak, vice president and direct of the Water Policy Center at the Public Policy Institute of California.
The new proposal doesn't call for any immediate, mandatory cuts to water use in cities or on farms. Instead, he wants the water board to develop efficiency targets for every district, but they would only take effect next spring if there's another dry winter. He’s also proposing spending $1 billion to get rid of 500,000 square feet of turf.
State Sen. Brian Dahle, a Republican running against Newsom in this fall's election, said he supports building more reservoirs, water recycling and desalination, but that he doubts the governor's plan will come with real follow through. He pointed to the fact that no projects have been completed with the bond money the state passed eight years ago.
"When do the people wake up and go, ‘I want results. I actually want some results and I want to stop being promised and charged for non-results,'" he said.