Featured Researcher

Ellen Hanak

What does the recently enacted water legislation do to address the state’s water problems?

The package of water bills shows that the legislature can respond to water problems. It’s a hopeful sign that the legislature will be helpful in resolving future water problems with some authority, rather than leaving ultimate decisions to the courts. The package does some useful things. It lays groundwork for sustainable management of the Delta. It adds incentives to consolidate the progress Californians have made in conservation. It takes some steps in the areas of monitoring groundwater use and administering water rights.

But the package still leaves much to be done in the areas of water conservation, water use monitoring and enforcement, and effective governance for the Delta. And, of course, the state still needs to find ways to pay for water infrastructure and critical improvements in aquatic habitat—whether or not voters approve the $11.4 billion bond that is part of the package.

California will always have significant water problems, so even the best legislation will require follow-through to make it work well.

California now has a conservation target of reducing per-capita urban water use by 20 percent in 2020. How can this goal be achieved?

Much progress has been made since the drought in the ’90s. But there is room for more. We are once again living with drought conditions—now for the third year in a row—and a number of water agencies have adopted tiered rate structures that charge consumers based on their water use. Customers who use the least water pay a basic rate. Those who use more pay higher rates. Expanding this type of pricing would give more consumers an incentive to conserve.

Urban areas can also do better in encouraging customers to reduce their outdoor water use by planting drought-tolerant landscapes and using more efficient irrigation devices. In many parts of the state, outdoor watering accounts for over half of urban use—so there’s a lot of room for progress. Cities and counties across the state are adopting new landscape ordinances that will help to achieve this goal.

The water package establishes a groundwater monitoring program for the first time. Why is that important?

This was one of the most contentious parts of the package, mainly because there are parts of California where groundwater users think the amount of water they pump from their wells is nobody else’s business. But our economy requires that California move beyond this kind of Wild West thinking. Groundwater affects the overall availability of water in streams and rivers. California needs accurate and current information about groundwater use because it is an integral part of the state’s water system.

How can California build on this first step and improve management of groundwater?

The new law requires monitoring of groundwater levels, but it does not yet require measuring actual groundwater use—a key next step. California actually already has excellent models for how to do better. Some areas in the state—Orange County, Silicon Valley, and Southern California’s Chino Basin—are actively managing groundwater and we can learn from them.

Good monitoring and accounting systems keep track of the water going in and coming out. When space is available in an aquifer, water can be stored underground for dry years. Groundwater banking is cost-effective and will become especially important as climate change diminishes the state’s snowpack.