Drought: California’s Perennial Problem
Just as we exhale as the devastating Covid pandemic finally eases, Californians can see another problem right on the horizon - drought and all of its related negative impacts. Hillsides that are normally not dried out until July or August, are parched with no likely significant precipitation until October.
Baldwin Hills, Culver City, CA
This excellent article from the Washington Post paints a distressing picture of what is being called our “drought within a superdrought.” Farmers are letting fields go fallow, anticipating that they will not have sufficient water to irrigate crops for the full growing season.
Washington Post, May 21, 2021
California, which experienced rolling blackouts, wildfires, and public safety power shutoffs (PSPS’s) during a relatively low electricity demand in 2020; is looking at a 50% reduction in its hydropower supplies from 16% of total demand to 8%. The State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project have announced that they will only deliver 5% of the requested water supply this summer.
The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment reports that while annual precipitation is neither trending up nor down, it is a) more variable; and b) trending to a greater proportion of rain versus snow. These trends, in turn, are tied to the ongoing impacts of climate change. With less snow, and with this snow melting sooner, a perverse effect is created. In some cases water is available too early and required to be released from storage reservoirs prior to peak demand season. Furthermore, in many areas of the state, the ground has become so dried out that greater amounts of precipitation are simply soaking into the soil or evaporating, thus unavailable for water supply.
Hardest hit by the drought is the San Joaquin Valley in Central California, which relies heavily upon groundwater and imported water. As aquifers have been drained by past droughts, a stunning lack of regulated groundwater management and overuse, causes the cost and energy required to pump remaining water from aquifers to go up. This only serves to exacerbate the impact and pain for Central Valley farmers.
The Sierra Nevada snow evaporates in 2 months
March 2021 (on left) vs May 2021 (on right)
For long-time Californians, this story is not new. What IS new is the spillover (pun intended) of the water supply/demand imbalance into electricity management. California expends anywhere between 5-10% of its electricity simply moving water from its original source, to its place of consumption - and that number is rising.
Drought is also responsible for a premature and extensive drying out of the land, in many cases where electricity transmission and distribution lines run. Couple this with extreme wind events and an inadequate historical vegetation management program, and you have heightened risk of power lines being taken out or igniting deadly wildfires.
If there is a silver-lining to be found, it’s a much greater awareness of the water-energy nexus. Acknowledgement and commitment that California’s current water infrastructure and demand management must change to reflect its 21st century reality. Like energy, water is highly political and driven by stakeholder buy-in. Also like energy, mitigating California’s water challenges will require changes in behavior, not just technology.