state has already been claimed in one
way or another over the decades, so the
state as a whole is in the midst of a slow
and often challenging process to figure
out how to shift water use to achieve
a better allocation between the two,
taking a long-term view that accounts
for climate change, increasing popula-
tion and other challenges we will see in
the future.
We’re in a housing crisis in Califor-
nia. How do we balance water conser-
vation with the need for residential
development?
We already have robust laws in the state
that connect land-use planning to water
supply. These are known as the “show
me the water” laws, (Senate Bill) 610
and (Senate Bill) 221. … We’re constant-
ly improving the implementation of
those laws. … There are other things
we can do to ensure we have sufficient
water. One is to improve the efficiency
of our existing water use, not only to do
things like reducing leaks and adopting
systemwide conservation standards, but
also to maximize the use of our existing
water resources by investing in alterna-
tive water supplies, supplemental water
supplies, like recycled water, for exam-
ple, (or) groundwater banking. There are
also a couple innovative approaches in
thinking about housing and water. One
of these is called water neutral pro-
grams or water demand offset manage-
ment. These are (local) ordinances that
require new developments to identify
a secure water source (and) to mitigate
or offset their increased water demand
by investing in, for example, a project to
bring more recycled water into the area
or investing in water conservation in an
older neighborhood where people have
not had the incentive to replace their old
fixtures. A number of jurisdictions did
this during the drought in the late ’80s
and early ’90s, and more did it in our last
couple of droughts. … This is the kind of
thing that should be getting more atten-
tion during this period of relative plenty
while we wait for the next drought.
What are the major issues affecting
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
and how does water law tie into that?
The Delta is usually identified as Cali-
fornia’s most long-standing and, so far,
most intractable issue. There’s been
a decadeslong effort to address issues
related to protection of water quality,
protection of listed species and habitat,
and protection of agriculture and
communities in the Delta. The Delta
serves as a hub for our major projects
that move water between the places
where the water originates and the
places where the people live in Cali-
fornia — these are the California State
Water Project and our federal Central
Valley Project. They support millions
of people with drinking water, hydro-
power generation and ... agriculture.
… The federal Central Valley Project
was initiated in the 1930s, … the State
Water Project came along in the 1960s.
Even at their inception, these projects
were the subject of controversy because
of the very fact that they moved water
around the state. The Delta is … below
where the water originates but above
where most of the people live, so the
water from the projects has to flow
through the Delta.
The operations of (these two)
projects have improved the Delta water
availability in some respects during
some seasons. In other ways, it has
caused injury to species and water
quality in the Delta. The bad has been
significant enough to result in the
listing of certain fish species as endan-
gered … and decreased water quali-
ty. Those problems existed from the
beginning. As population grows, which
exacerbates the effects of drought
and climate change, we see ever-more
increasing attention on the Delta.
Likewise, the infrastructure is in deep
need of repair in many parts of our
state water project and federal water
project systems. So the Delta has seen
many major reform proposals over the
decades. We’ve known these by various
names: It’s been the Peripheral Canal,
the Bay Delta Conservation Plan,
the (California) WaterFix are (what)
people call the Delta tunnels, and (the)
Delta Conveyance is the most recent
iteration. One of the key focuses for
reform in all of these projects has been
to decrease the impacts of pumping
plants, which are located in the south
Delta. Cal WaterFix … had proposed to
install new intake facilities in the north
Delta and route project water through
conveyance facilities that would either
go around or through the Delta, and
also include through-Delta flows at the
same time, so we called it “dual convey-
ance.” These conveyance changes were
intended to decrease fish entrainment
in the pumps — fish getting caught in
the pumps — and to lessen the water
quality impacts of project operations.
… During the California WaterFix plan-
ning, there was significant discussion
between the water and environmental
communities about the possibility of
downsizing the project to only one tun-
nel, which would reduce the impacts
and costs. When Gov. (Gavin) Newsom
took office in 2019, he released the
Water Resilience Portfolio, out in draft
now, which essentially settles on a
one-tunnel direction for the project. He
subsequently issued an executive order
directing the state agencies to take the
necessary steps to shift to the one-tun-
nel approach. That’s what we call Delta
Conveyance, which is currently under-
going environmental review.
Sena Christian is managing editor of
Comstock’s. Online at senachristian.com
and on Twitter @SenaCChristian.
For an extended interview
with Jennifer Harder, visit
comstocksmag.com
May 2020 | comstocksmag.com
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