DISCOURSE
Most of the Western states are in the grip of a severe drought of historic proportions . Conditions are really dire . So it ’ s not just us . This is throughout the West .
This year is really a case study about climate change .
about water that will be coming into Folsom — those inflow projections . We know that the situation we ’ re looking at , it ’ s getting worse . So it ’ s a really dire year . Everyone really needs to be doing what they can to make it better .
We ’ ve been working with the Bureau of Reclamation to carefully manage this remaining storage that ’ s in Folsom , and we really have a common goal and a common target . … They need to be doing everything that they can to keep us at 200,000 acre-feet , but that ’ s also on the Water Forum and our members to be doing everything we can through conservation , through moving water around , through switching diversions from the American River to the Sacramento River , which is a bigger river , higher volume . That ’ s the flexibility that the City of Sacramento has .
We ’ re also doing a lot to switch to groundwater . The Water Forum Agreement anticipated this , when we put it together 20 years ago , that there would be drought conditions . There ( are ) a set of actions outlined in the Water Forum agreement that we ’ re implementing this year to make sure we can create reliability and really improve conditions for fish . In terms of achieving this goal , by getting to 200,000 acre-feet by the end of September ( and ) working towards these common goals , we ’ re hoping to help steelhead salmon and fall-run chinook that are in the river . We ’ re hoping to put this region in a better position to withstand continued dry conditions . I can ’ t emphasize enough that everyone ’ s got a role to play . …
Thinking about those lake levels , talking about 200,000 acre-feet and 230,000 acre-feet by the end of December … based on our experience in the last drought , we know those numbers are important to aim for going into the next year in case a drought continues . We also know that as lake levels go lower , the water gets warmer . … We know we ’ re going to be seeing temperatures that are anywhere from 6-8 degrees above where they have been in the past for that median level . These are pretty terrible temperatures for fish , so it ’ s not instantaneously lethal , but we know we ’ re going to see a lot more disease and higher mortality .
You mentioned how it ’ s critical that everyone does their part . With the last drought , did we do our part ? Yes , actually this region … did really well in terms of conservation . … Right now , most of the Western states are in the grip of a severe drought of historic proportions . Conditions are really dire . So it ’ s not just us . This is throughout the West . This year is really a case study about climate change . It ’ s important for us to be prepared , not just within this region , but within the West , for extremes like flood , fire and drought . We are still preparing for floods , and there ’ s still a lot of work that ’ s going into that and that ’ s important work , but climate change is happening and it ’ s impacting our lives now . We can see it , we can smell it , we can feel it , there ’ s gonna be more wildfires . … The wildfires now are different than they have been in the past , they ’ re burning hotter and they ’ re burning faster . We ’ re having hotter summers that have more days of over 100 degrees .
Drought is really a constant concern for this region . This region gets most of its precipitation in a few big storms over the winter months . This year , we saw even a few variations , just slight variations : It ’ s too windy , it ’ s too wet , it ’ s too cold . The characteristics of those storms really drastically change what the rest of the year looks like . Hopefully , we don ’ t need more years like this for the region and for residents of this region to recognize that humans are drastically altering the planet at a really fundamental level and that we need to take action to reverse these trends within our lifetime .
We have so much new home building going on in this region — in Folsom , in Rancho Cordova , in Roseville . How can we accommodate all these new homes and still manage our water supply ? Oh , that ’ s such a good question . In terms of the Water Forum ’ s work , we are very interested in what the water demands are for the region . There ’ s a whole round of urban water management plans that are coming out this year . These are required reports the water purveyors have to provide to the state every five years that look at demand overall . … When we look at that , we ’ re taking that information , along with other information about how this region is growing , and thinking about how that connects to our longer term work of the Water Forum . So talking a little bit about the Water Forum 2.0 process , the original Water Forum Agreement , it took them seven years to put it together . It was just an outstanding example of how to do interest-based negotiation and get to an agreement , and that agreement has been in place for 20 years .
We ’ ve got another 10 years of the existing agreement , but things move fast . We have been working over the last year and we ’ ll have another year of work to do to renegotiate that agreement and to put in place these protections that will really help the region over the next 20-30 years . One of the biggest things we ’ re looking at is climate change and how that is going to be impacting the region , and specifically , what ’ s the probability that we ’ re going to have more drought years ? Will we be able to meet the water supply needs of the region going forward ? Will we be able to meet housing demand ? Affordable housing is an incredibly important issue , especially in California and especially now . So being able to meet the demand for affordable housing is critical — a part of that is you can ’ t build unless you ’ ve got water supply . That ’ s an integral part of regulation and how land-
26 comstocksmag . com | August 2021