Report: Water supplies will dwindle in California

SACRAMENTO
January 30, 2008 7:20am

January’s series of storms merely masks a deeper problem that will see the amount of fresh water available to Californians dwindling year after year, a report from the Department of Water Resources says.

Its “Draft State Water Project Delivery Reliability Report 2007” updates estimates of its ability to maintain current (2007) and future (2027) State Water Project delivery reliability.

The report, issued every two years, also identifies factors that may impact water availability and changes that can be made to improve future water supply reliability.

It says continued declines in water supply reliability are likely if water delivery through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta remains unchanged.

Delta pumping restrictions imposed by a federal court to help protect threatened and endangered fish and the near-term effects of climate change are two of the major factors.

Based on historical data, the analysis shows that annual SWP deliveries would decrease virtually every year in the future, and by as much as 20 percent from current levels one-quarter of the time.

“This sobering assessment of the state’s water situation serves as a reminder that, despite the recent rains, the problems in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta remain unresolved,” says Timothy Brick, chairman of the board of directors of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

“We face a new reality in Southern California that will require conservation each and every year in order to keep our supplies and demands in balance,” says Mr. Brick.

He says a new conservation strategy needs to be developed for the Delta and the state “should commence feasibility studies of various new ways to move water supplies across the Delta.”

The Delta supplies most of the fresh water used by some 23 million Californians.