October 2, 2023 Breaking News, Latest News, and Videos

Big Water Year Leaves Huge Dearth Of Information

By Tom Elias

In this remarkable water year, which ended more than five years of severe drought in California, there are still plenty of noteworthy water questions to contemplate and act upon.

Here’s the central one: Three years after California passed what’s often called a landmark groundwater regulation law, no one knows how much under-surface water remains accessible to wells and no one has a clue to how much replenishment the state’s supplies actually got from last winter’s massive storms.

It’s easy to see that once-depleted reservoirs are back at peak levels, again drowning abandoned towns, buildings, corrals and other structures sacrificed decades ago to the need for water storage.

But groundwater remains a mystery.

Things may not be quite as mysterious as years ago, but one thing for sure: supposed new information the state now possesses about ground water basins is essentially common sense stuff understood long ago by anyone with even a modicum of knowledge about California rainfall, lakes and rivers.

Example A is a somewhat breathless mid-winter report from the California Department of Water Resources called “Water Available for Replenishment,” showed demand for local water and imports from other regions is highest in the Tulare Basin of the southern San Joaquin Valley.

The same report says “runoff, natural recharge and outflow are highest on the North Coast.” And we were told the estimated water available for replenishing ground water basins is highest in the Sacramento River region (about 640,000 acre feet a year, enough to satisfy the needs of 1.4 million families.)

This is all the stuff of common-sense: Virtually no one familiar with California’s water world doesn’t know that farms in the Tulare Basin consume a lot of water, both from the Central Valley Project and from wells. Who doesn’t know it typically rains more on the North Coast than anywhere else in the state? And who doesn’t know the Sacramento River watershed contains some of California’s largest reservoirs, from which water could be shifted to replenish aquifers?

So this was essentially a useless report, telling interested Californians little they didn’t already know. There is still no way to tell how much water remains in easily reachable aquifers around the state. For example, no one has a clue how much water lies in most California underground lakes. We do, for example, know golf courses in the Coachella Valley portion of Riverside County, including Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage and the aptly-named Indian Wells, always remained green even as the state Capitol lawn and many others went brown in the drought.

Drought or not, the vast underground lake beneath the Coachella Valley keeps water shortages there at bay year after year. Plus, much of the water sprayed onto the valley’s myriad greens and fairways eventually filters back down to the aquifer.

Far more important would be to know the extent of aquifers and their winter replenishment in the Central Valley. During the drought, farmers spent heavily to deepen wells and reach new, lower levels of underground supplies, but no one had the foggiest notion how long that could persist. Winter storms at least partially replenished supplies, but it’s still anyone’s guess how much water rests there or how long it might last.

Water meters, reported Leon Szeptycki, executive director of Stanford University’s Water in the West program, could help a bit with this. He told a university magazine that “If everyone had a meter on their well and you knew how much everyone was using, you could sort of calculate everyone’s contribution to aquifer depletion. But if you don’t know any of those things, they just become things to fight about.”

That’s pretty much where we are today, more than 12 years before the new state law’s eventual deadline for controlling and measuring use of ground water as thoroughly as surface water is managed now.

The bottom line: We know that after a winter of heavy rain, there is no more drought in California. Even Gov. Jerry Brown admitted that.

We also know at least some Californians want controls on ground water use, but that’s many years off. All of which means that we know startlingly little more now than before the groundwater law passed three years ago, and that’s a crying shame.

elias

in Opinion
Related Posts

S.M.a.r.t Column: Civic Center Debate

September 24, 2023

September 24, 2023

Civic Center Debate Last year, the City declared the Civic Center Auditorium surplus property after a decade of neglect and...

SMa.r.t.Column: THE ONCE AND FUTURE SANTA MONICA CIVIC AUDITORIUM

September 18, 2023

September 18, 2023

This week SMa.r.t. is focusing on the historic Civic Center Auditorium and residents’ efforts to save it from a misdirected...

S.M.a.r.t Column: The Battle for the Planning Commission: A Circus of Political Maneuvers

September 10, 2023

September 10, 2023

Ah, the wonderful world of city politics! Ladies and gentlemen hold on to your hats as we delve into the...

S.M.a.r.t Column: The 30 MPH City Part 2

September 4, 2023

September 4, 2023

Last week’s article discussed why we need to continue our program to slow down our streets to save lives, given...

S.M.a.r.t Column: The 30 MPH City Part One

August 27, 2023

August 27, 2023

Some ideas sound extreme when first presented but acquire more credibility when you think about it, and particularly when conditions...

Open Letter On the California Voting Rights Case Against the City of Santa Monica

August 25, 2023

August 25, 2023

By Oscar de la Torre Like many Santa Monicans and Californians who care about fair elections, I watched the California...

S.M.a.r.t article: Save the Civic – Keep it Alive

August 6, 2023

August 6, 2023

Santa Monica Civic Auditorium: A Historic Gem That Shaped Our City’s Cultural Legacy. Save Santa Monica’s Heritage The Santa Monica...

SMa.r.t. Column: Counseling The City Council

July 28, 2023

July 28, 2023

This week, our SMa.r.t. column is authored by concerned resident Nikki Kolhoff. Nikki has been an active voice in the...

SMa.r.t. column: The Impact of Private Companies on Our City Streets: A Call for Safety

July 21, 2023

July 21, 2023

As someone who’s always out and about, whether walking, biking, or driving, this writer has noticed a worrying trend that...

A Seismic Duality

July 21, 2023

July 21, 2023

Last month the City issued a follow-up report on its success in complying with its Seismic Retrofit Program. This 2017...

SMa.r.t. Column: The Future Of Santa Monica Airport (SMO)

July 4, 2023

July 4, 2023

On January 1, 2029, the City Council will be given the legal right to vote on whether to maintain the...

A Comfortable City for All

June 23, 2023

June 23, 2023

Picture this: a concerned citizen takes to Facebook to ask about the mysteriously vanishing benches and chairs on the Promenade....

An Open Letter To Santa Monica

June 16, 2023

June 16, 2023

Declining Business Climate in Downtown Santa Monica By Jennifer Rush, Blue Plate Restaurant Group To all that do business, live,...

Thirsty Santa Monica: Running Dry

June 11, 2023

June 11, 2023

The thirst is real, and Santa Monica is feeling it. The problem? Santa Monica relies on the Metropolitan Water District...

Landmarks Commission Back From the Dead

June 2, 2023

June 2, 2023

For over three years, SMa.r.t. (Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow) has consistently warned that recently increased intense development...