The latest U.S. winter outlook spells trouble for dry California
The latest U.S. winter outlook spells trouble for dry California
The latest U.S. winter outlook bears down hard on California.
California had a mild winter, with below average rainfall.
What that means for the state’s $2.8 billion in water system debt, most of it driven by groundwater pumping and surface water diversions, was explained in a new report from the California Department of Water Resources on Monday.
The report — produced by water districts — offers a grim look at the current state of the state’s water supply, which has suffered decades of underinvestment in the California water system before a federal water cut in 2013.
More than three decades of underinvestment, mismanaged groundwater pumping and surface water diversions — including last year’s flood disaster — was responsible for billions of dollars of water debt, the DWR report found, and it could cause long-term debt to increase as a result.
“The long-term implications of these long-term underinvestments are that many local water systems will be burdened with higher debt,” said David McPherson, senior director of the DWR’s water debt office.
For the past several decades, the state has been paying down the water system’s debt at a rate of about 1 cent per year. In a decade in which dry weather and water supply cuts are normal, that figure is expected to increase to 2.5 cents annually. The state faces water system debt of $2.8 billion when it comes due in 2021.
The recent DWR report includes the DWR’s long-term vision for how those costs will be addressed, along with the DWR’s immediate action on those recommendations.
In addition to long-term water debt, the report also outlines some immediate actions that can be taken to get California’s water system on a better track.
Among them:
•The DWR wants the U.S. Forest Service to reduce its timber harvesting on the Sierra Nevada mountain range through next year.
•The DWR is considering a series of recommendations, including putting more demand on local water systems and using water conservation practices more aggressively, to help manage