Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Preparing for Water Scarcity: Learning from California’s Recent Drought
EPA Grant Number: R835867Title: Preparing for Water Scarcity: Learning from California’s Recent Drought
Investigators: Hanak, Ellen , Lund, Jay
Institution: Public Policy Institute of California , University of California - Davis
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: September 1, 2015 through August 31, 2018
Project Amount: $1,000,000
RFA: National Priorities: Systems-Based Strategies to Improve The Nation’s Ability to Plan And Respond to Water Scarcity and Drought Due to Climate Change (2014) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Water
Objective:
The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) Water Policy Center (WPC) and University of California, Davis (UCD) Center for Watershed Sciences conducted research over 3 years in
pursuit of our stated project goals, focused on water scarcity in California:
1) Synthesize the climatological and hydrologic conditions of the current drought and its effects on water supply and quality for uses in agricultural, urban, environmental, rural
community, and hydropower sectors (including impacts of wildfires)
2) Conduct an integrated systems assessment that examines the response of water management institutions to the drought
3) Identify innovations needed for sustainable drought management systems, including adaptations for projected climate change
4) Develop drought simulations and methods for statewide 'dry runs' as a way to test these innovations.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
Water Rights, Trading and Quality
Our review of the water accounting systems used in 12 western states and two dry countries was used to identify critical water-accounting gaps in California's water management systems:
water availability (both surface and groundwater, and their interactions); legal claims on water (surface and groundwater rights, especially environmental claims); water use (especially groundwater pumping, return flows, and environmental uses); and common standards for managing and sharing water information. We recommended defined environmental water budgets, the consolidation of information on water availability and ecological indicators, and better monitoring of flows in environmentally sensitive streams to address this issue. In September 2016, Governor Brown signed into law AB 1755: The Open and Transparent Water Data Act, which directs the state's water resource agencies to collaborate on a statewide integrated data platform. Our report on this water topic offered guidelines for developing standardized reporting metrics and authoritative models that may help address the bill's goals.
Aquatic Ecosystems
The way California manages water for the environment is focused on responding to crises rather than building capacity to weather future dry spells. Our in-depth evaluation of how to improve conditions for native fish and reduce conflict over water for the environment came during a crucial time, as the state continues to work with local agencies and stakeholders to develop a new way of regulating flows in key watersheds. Our work also proposed a better way to account for environmental water, with an example from the Sacramento - San Joaquin Delta.
This work has contributed to an important conversation happening across the American West as stakeholders search for new solutions to managing water for fish and wildlife. The concept of an ecosystem water budget and recommendations for changing accounting practices for environmental water are currently under review by state agencies and stakeholders.
Agriculture and Rural Communities
The latest drought underscored San Joaquin Valley agriculture's vulnerability to water scarcity and long-term declines in groundwater reserves. Strategies to address the Valley's water imbalance and related problems include: improve water accounting to better understand how much water is available and how much is being withdrawn; develop systems to incentivize both recharge and reductions in pumping; expand supplies by capturing and storing more local runoff in groundwater basins and reusing water to help reduce deficits in the near term; reduce demand by idling some farmland in basins that cannot close the groundwater deficit with new supplies; and explore strategies to manage groundwater recharge in ways that improve water supply and quality. SB 252 adopted recommendations from our report on the type of information that groundwater users must report to their local jurisdictions when they apply to dig new wells in critically overdrafted basins.
Urban Areas
The Governor's 2015 water conservation mandate generated significant discord between the state and local water suppliers - entities that need to work well together to protect the state's residents and economy from the worst effects of drought. We recommended five areas of reform to clarify this process and improve urban drought resilience going forward: coordinate water shortage contingency planning and implementation and close the information gap on local drought preparedness at the State Water Resources Control Board; foster water system flexibility and integration, including continued local and state investment in cooperative regional approaches to water supply management and greater attention to the regulatory context in which planning and investment decisions are made; improve water suppliers' fiscal resilience with more proactive drought pricing and communication with customers; address
water shortages in vulnerable communities and ecosystems; and balance long-term water use efficiency and drought resilience to ensure that timely water use cuts remain viable during future droughts - possibly by allocating some long-term savings to a reliability reserve. This work was cited in the text and analysis for AB 1667 and AB 1668.
Wildfires
California needs to increase the pace and scale of efforts to improve the health of its headwater forests - the source of two-thirds of the state's surface water supply. Management techniques, including prescribed fire, managed wildfire, and mechanical thinning, can help rebuild resilience in these forests and prepare them for a challenging future. Changing the way forestry work is funded - and in some cases securing new funding - will also be needed to expedite forest improvements. We suggested finding opportunities to combine revenue-generating timber harvesting with other management work to help offset the costs of improved forest health. Our research and outreach were referenced by the Governor's Executive Order B-52-18 (May 2018), directing state agencies to increase the pace and scale of forest management in response to large and severe wildfire, tree mortality, and declining forest health. The order outlined several proposals for changes to forest management policy, including lowering barriers to practices that improve forest health on family forest lands. The Executive Order also directed Cal Fire to increase the use of collaborative agreements with the U.S. Forest Service. In addition, SB 901 (September 2018) dedicated $1 billion in cap-and-trade revenues to Cal Fire for decreasing wildfire risk and enhancing forest resilience. The bill also included changes to forest management policies - implementing aspects of Executive Order B-52-18 and the California Forest Carbon Plan. Several of the bill's provisions closely reflected our report recommendations. The report was cited in seven pieces of legislation related to California's fires that were introduced and signed into law in 2018, including AB 1954 (Patterson).
Conclusions:
Managing Drought in a Changing Climate
Our culminating report for this grant was released in September 2018. Lessons learned from the 2012-2016 drought suggested some essential reforms that will help California effectively prepare for and respond to future droughts. Our recommendations included:
1. Plan ahead, including strengthening of urban water management plans, ensuring effective groundwater sustainability plans, developing drinking water plans for rural communities, and preparing ecosystem drought plans
2. Upgrade the water grid, including improving conveyance and storage capacity and modernizing and integrating operations (Central Valley Project and State Water Project)
3. Update water allocation rules, including promoting groundwater recharge, streamlining trading and banking, giving the environment a water budget, and improving water rights administration
4. Find the money, including using general obligation bonds for public benefit, filling the gaps for fiscal orphans, and reforming water pricing law.
Upcoming publications (early 2019) are based on research conducted during the grant period:
- Managing Wastewater in a Changing Climate
- Water and the Future of the San Joaquin Valley
Dozens of blog posts and op-eds were published by PPIC and UCD during the grant period. PPIC blog posts covered a wide range of water topics, including:
Reforming Federal Drought Management,
Improving California’s Water Accounting,s
Lessons on Sustaining the Environment During Drought,
Testimony: Managing California's Headwater Forests,
Bringing Order to Groundwater Management,
Building Urban Drought Resilience,
Are California's Cities Ready for the Next Drought?,
3 Things to Know about California Droughts, and
Video: Managing Drought in a Changing Climate.
UCD blog posts included a series of monthly posts on the state of the drought during the 2016 water year (and continuing into the 2017 water year), which may be found at CaliforniaWaterBlog.com.
References:
California's Water Market (March 2016)
Managing Water for the Environment During Drought: Lessons from Victoria, Australia
(June 2016)
California's Latest Drought (July 2016)
Accounting for California's Water (July 2016)
Water Stress and a Changing San Joaquin Valley (March 2017)
Building Drought Resilience in California's Cities and Suburbs (June 2017)
Improving the Health of California's Headwater Forests (September 2017)
Alternative Water Supplies (February 2018)
Managing Drought in a Changing Climate: Four Essential Reforms (September 2018)
Journal Articles on this Report : 9 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
Other project views: | All 61 publications | 26 publications in selected types | All 9 journal articles |
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Escriva-Bou A, McCann H, Hanak E, Lund J, Gray B, Blanco E, et al. Water Accounting in Western US, Australia, and Spain:Comparative Analysis. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management 2020;146(3). |
R835867 (Final) |
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Gailey RM, Lund JR, Medellin-Azuara J. Domestic well reliability:evaluating supply interruptions from groundwater overdraft, estimating costs and managing economic externalities. Hydrogeology Journal 2019;27(4):1159-82. |
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Lund J, Medellin-Azuara J, Durand J, Stone K. Lessons from California's 2012 - 2016 drought. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management 2018;144(10):04018067 (13 pp.). |
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Szeptycki LF, Gray BE. California's drought and the environment:an introduction. Hastings West-Northwest Journal of Environmental Law and Policy 2017; 23:(1):51-55. |
R835867 (Final) |
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Ugai, J. Conjunctive use on the Yuba: lessons from drought management in the Yuba watershed. Hastings West-Northwest Journal of Environmental Law and Policy 2017;23(1):57-81. |
R835867 (Final) |
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Ugai J. Regulating with reasonable use: lessons from drought management in the Russian River watershed. Hastings West-Northwest Journal of Environmental Law and Policy 2017;23:(1):83-113. |
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Ullrich PA, Xu Z, Rhoades AM, Dettinger MD, Mount JF, Jones AD, Vahmani P. California's drought of the future: a midcentury recreation of the exceptional conditions of 2012‐2017. Earth's Future 2018;6(11):1568-1587. |
R835867 (Final) |
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Vissers E. Low flows, high stakes: lessons from fisheries management on Mill, Deer, and Antelope Creeks during California's historic drought. Hastings West-Northwest Journal of Environmental Law and Policy 2017;23(1):153-179. |
R835867 (Final) |
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Womble P. Ad-hoc drought management on an overallocated river: the Stanislaus River, water years 2014-15. Hastings West-Northwest Journal of Environmental Law and Policy 2017;23(1):115-152. |
R835867 (Final) |
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Supplemental Keywords:
Climate scenarios, drought, extreme impacts, adaptation, CA, EPA Region 9, California, waterRelevant Websites:
Public Policy of California Exit
UC Davis Center for Watershed Study Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.