“With its diverse climate and landscape, California contains the greatest variety of rivers found anywhere in the United States. Over the last 150 years these rivers have been dammed, diverted, polluted, lined, and leveed to supply the needs of an expanding population and economy. In spite of these changes, rivers and the waters they carry remain one of California’s most significant natural hazards and most contested resources”. (Mount)

California – the most populous state in the United States – faces many competing demands for water use, mirroring what is happening throughout the world, as nations try to come to terms with an impending international water crisis. In California, agricultural demand for irrigation during the dry summer has traditionally been met by reservoirs and a system of irrigation canals that have in turn lowered the amount of water available for river flow. The practice of water control and diversion has resulted in endangered fisheries, reduced salmon runs, and pitched battles between interest groups –particularly, farmers, fishermen, developers and environmentalists. California is often subject to years of drought, when it does not receive enough winter precipitation to replenish reservoirs and groundwater, compounding its water troubles. Ironically, California is also susceptible to damaging floods during wet years, causing billions of dollars in property damage. Many new subdivisions are being built on floodplains, and depend on antiquated levees to protect lives and property. After bearing witness to the effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and faced with the possibility of a similar disaster, California voters recently approved a bond measure that would repair the levees, in order to protect homes and lives. As California begins to face the reality of future water scarcity, many local conservation efforts have been implemented, and water districts are giving rebates on water efficient appliances, and distributing water-saving devices that will make it easier for customers to become more water efficient. Although California is making some progress towards meeting its water challenges, the growing population’s demand for water will continue to rise, creating a situation where high stakes battles over water will be an inevitable consequence unless the state is able to formulate an overarching science-based water plan, and implement it despite the political risks inherent in alienating special interest groups.

A traveler through the state of California is treated to a variety of different climates and landscapes, from the arid deserts in the south, to the coastal redwood rainforest. In the summer, a visitor will note the lack of rain, as most of California, with some exceptions in the Sierra Mountains, experiences no precipitation whatsoever from June to October. Lack of summer rainfall makes farmers, industry and residential water consumers dependant on stored water. California in the summer is a parched landscape of golden brown hills, barren save for dry grasses and the occasional lonely stand of live oak trees or scrub brush. Native California plants have developed unique adaptations to the dry season, most requiring no water at all during the summer months, yet in many residential gardens, one would be hard pressed to find a single native plant amidst the carpets of emerald green lawn that blanket nearly every suburban yard.

Cities like Palm Springs appear like artificial oases in the middle of the desert. An internet search for the words Palm Springs and golf turns up over thirty separate golf courses in the Palm Springs area. It is a sad irony that in a desert, obscenely excessive water displays appear to be the main tourist attraction for many resorts in the area, which has an annual rainfall of less than 3 inches (Rosenblum). At the Palm Desert Marriot Resort,

“Boats ferry diners from the lobby to a restaurant across a 23-acre artificial lake. Inside, its brochure boasts, “It took over 50 million gallons of water to fill the indoor lake and waterfalls.” Elsewhere, cooled mist above café terrace tables air conditions the outdoors. Badly aimed sprinklers water paved streets. Nearly every home has a swimming pool, its water evaporating in the heat.” (Rosenblum)

Expanding American desert cities like Palm Springs have become a cliché of wastefulness and poor planning. In a state and nation that risks running out of water, or having it severely rationed, we must ask ourselves whether it makes sense to continue the development of large subdivisions where there is not enough annual rainfall to sustain them. In Palm Springs, as in other desert cities, citizens and industries should pay the true cost of their water, which is currently heavily subsidized by taxpayer dollars. Politicians, environmental groups, and concerned citizens must band together to develop reasonable, long term solutions before there is a true water crisis in the desert.

Water problems in California are not only caused by overdevelopment of marginal areas. The PBS documentary Cadillac Desert gives a sobering look at the water wars of early twentieth century Los Angeles, where battles over water rights were fought with guns and explosives, instead of in the courts of law. The city of Los Angeles developed into today’s megalopolis because it was able to secure water rights to the Owens Valley, and later The Colorado River, and Mono Lake. Such was the city’s thirst for water that Mono Lake -an important ecosystem supporting numerous species, some of them endangered- risked “death” due to low water levels. The outcry from environmentalists and concerned citizens eventually motivated politicians to pass legislation forcing Los Angeles to drastically cut its use of water from Mono Lake (Cadillac Desert). The story of Mono Lake can be considered a victory from multiple perspectives. Diverse interest groups, including scientists, environmentalists and concerned citizens were able to pressure politicians to protect the lake and its tributary streams (Cadillac Desert). The city of Los Angeles has had to develop water conservation efforts as a result of the loss of water from Mono Lake. When municipalities are forced to take this sort of action, they must use creativity, science, and technology to develop long-term conservations solutions, creating a template that can be adopted by other municipalities seeking solutions to their own water management issues.

Of course, California – the richest state in the richest nation in the world- has the financial resources to deal with current and future water shortages. Many nations in the developing world are not so lucky. To put our problems in perspective,

“Today, 31 countries are facing water stress and scarcity, and over a billion people lack adequate access to clean drinking water. By the year 2025 as much as two-thirds of the world’s population will be living in conditions of serious water shortage or absolute water scarcity.” (Barlow)

Many see the looming problem of ever scarcer supplies of fresh clean water as a harbinger of war. As nations compete for water rights, clashes are inevitable, particularly in the more instable regions of the world, such as the Middle East. According to Michael Klare of Hampshire College in Massachusetts:

“As population grows, and the need for water and food rises in tandem, each of the riparians will seek to maximize its utilization of the available supply. When the actions of any one of these states results in a declining supply for any of the others, the conditions are set for a clash over the distribution of water.” (Klare)

Although global water scarcity may seem an insurmountable problem due to an apparent lack of the international political will needed to preempt the inevitable struggles by creating viable regional water accords, there is still some time to act.

The first step towards solving the global water problem would be to insure sources of clean water for the poor in developing countries. The World Bank could be at the forefront of financing and building wells for communities that currently rely on contaminated water for drinking and other needs. If help came without political strings attached, it could generate the kind of international good will needed to make hard decisions about precious global resources.

Solving the problem of insufficient clean water in poor communities would be a great boon to public health. Disease and infant mortality would decrease, and perhaps people would have fewer babies if they knew their children would survive infancy. Women and children would be spared the exhausting chore of gathering water from miles away from home, and have more time for other pursuits, such as education.

The citizens of impoverished communities could learn to manage their water resources, and to prevent the degradation of aquifers, and other water sources. The communities would then establish their own communal water governing body, chosen or elected according to local traditions, which would oversee the distribution and management of water resources.

Of course, helping impoverished communities gain access to clean water would not immediately solve the global water scarcity issue. Education and investment in infrastructure in poor communities are also needed, in order to bring people out of crippling poverty, and enable them to protect their own resources. Education, particularly for women and girls, is an effective way to curb population growth-perhaps the most important piece of any conservation effort. The more time a girl spends in school, the fewer children she is likely to bear. Educated women also tend to have healthier children, because they have the skills necessary to understand and apply important principles of hygiene and nutrition.

Providing the infrastructure needed to allow for controlled economic development in impoverished countries will create jobs, and bring people out of poverty. When people are not living in dire economic straits, they are more likely to have the time and energy to care about issues of conservation. Bringing families out of poverty, educating children and adults, giving them access to information about water conservation, and helping communities formulate a viable plan to manage local water resources will help to alleviate the impending global water crises.

In California, the water wars continue to rage, although this time in the halls of Congress, and in the courts, rather than with explosives and guns. Recently, the debate has been centered on the use of Klamath River water, which has pitted farmers against environmentalists and fishermen. A plan to manage the Klamath is on the table after years of fighting and finger-pointing, although disagreements between stakeholders could still kill the deal (Whitney-Mcklatchey). In the meantime, faced with another impending drought, Californians are again being asked to conserve water.

After living through many droughts, some lasting years, it has become second nature for many Californians to conserve water. We could be doing much more. To give residents some help in their water conservation efforts, one of the Bay Area’s municipal water companies, East Bay Mudd, is offering rebates for customers purchasing water conserving appliances. They are also offering water saving devices, such as low flow shower heads, and faucet aerators for free. On their website, one can find tips for xeriscaping, a type of landscaping that requires little to no irrigation, and for planting native gardens (EB Mudd website).

Following the water conservation tips of water districts are just some of the steps we can take as residents of a drought prone state. We could easily reduce our water consumption at a time when

“Drought, overpopulation and pollution are all contributing to the water crisis, but so is water waste and overuse — two factors that can be mitigated through better water efficiency practices. In the United States, an average household could save 30,000 gallons per year by combining conservation practices with water-efficient products. This represents a savings of 24 percent of total household water use.” (Lagod)

Easy ways to conserve water include watering only when necessary, repairing leaky plumbing, and installing water saving devices. Some steps consumers could take which require more planning, foresight and initial financial expenditure include purchasing water saving appliances, xeriscaping yards, and installing drip irrigation systems. Another way to save water is to recycle grey water-the water used to wash vegetables, or in the rinse cycle of the washing machine-and use it to water the lawn or irrigate the vegetable garden. Families could also use rain barrels or cisterns to collect rainwater and roof runoff for irrigation purposes, as people have been doing for centuries.

As residents of a thirsty state in a thirsty world, the worst thing we can do is to ignore the water problem and hope that it will go away. That is what industrialized societies have been doing for decades, if not centuries, and it has gotten us into this tangled mess. On international, national and local levels, we need to create a science-based water policy, push for sustainable development, and muster the political will to alienate some interest groups in the name of the greater good.

WORK CITED:

Barlow, Maude, “WATER WAR! How the People of Bolivia Won Back Control of Their Water from Those Trying to Own It”, Briarpatch Magazine

Cadillac Desert. Dir. Jon Else, Linda Harrar 1997. DVD.

EBMUD. East Bay Municipal Utility District. 27 October, 2007

Lagod, Martin , “We’re Running out of Water” San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday, July 8, 2007

Liquid Gold Exhibit-Water Resource Center Archives. 11 October, 2007. University of California at Berkeley. 27 October, 2007

Lobe, Jim, “Competition for Resources to Dominate Global Relations,” Inter Press Service, May 8, 2001, n.p.

Rosenblum, Mort, “America’s Next Crises: Going Dry,” Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, NM), May 13, 2001

Whitney, David-McClatchy “Discord threatens Klamath River water talks Klamath: Refuge farms ‘a deal-killer’” The Sacramento Bee. 12 August, 2007. 27 October 2007