There Are Ways to Lessen Water Crisis

According to a recent survey by the California Urban Water Agencies, many of the state’s large employers are so concerned about future water supplies that they are reevaluating expansion plans and examining relocation possibilities.

It’s true that California faces the likelihood of more frequent and more severe shortages if its businesses and residents don’t better utilize existing water supplies and act boldly to secure new ones. But the state has numerous promising options on both those fronts.

First, businesses will look to their own operations, the better to conserve, recycle and reclaim as much water as is practically and economically feasible. According to the survey, 34% of the respondents had not implemented any conservation measures during the past five years. Once they’ve inaugurated efforts, they will need to periodically revisit their programs to see if advances in technology can further reduce their consumption.

Second, firms will lobby their local water purveyors to design better short-term and long-term conservation plans on a systemwide basis. Most California water agencies base contingency cutbacks on past water use, a policy that encourages waste during years of normal rainfall. They must be pressed to adopt programs that reward permanent, long-term conservation in wet, normal and dry years alike.

Third, businesses that want to assure stable or expanded supplies for their own use will urge the water agencies to accept quid pro quos. In return for these assurances, firms could offer to fund conservation improvements--for example, low-volume toilets or reclamation programs--for others within their water service area.

Lastly, businesses will work with local and state water agencies to support both traditional and innovative ways to expand or better utilize existing water supplies. A number of such efforts are already under way.

New facilities: The drought has renewed interest in transfer facilities for the Sacramento Delta, in additional reservoirs and in desalination plants. Statewide consensus, including energetic business support, will be needed if these projects are to move from talk to action.

Water transfers: Businesses understand markets and could make important practical contributions to the introduction of rational water markets throughout the state. Paying farmers to use less water makes more available for the growth of urban industry, service firms and housing. The state’s Emergency Water Bank has already purchased over 700,000 acre-feet of water this year. However, we need new ideas for minimizing the impacts of such transfers on the rural economy and environment or they will not become a major part of California’s water supply strategy.

Better management: California has a vast, under-utilized ground water reservoir in the Sacramento Valley area that could be used to provide additional water supplies during droughts. Businesses can urge local and state agencies to find ways to more fully utilize the basin while protecting or compensating local users.

Incentives to conserve: Many new pricing and conservation programs have sprouted during the drought. But businesses can insist that their water agencies develop better projections of the reasonable savings that can be obtained by conservation and pricing and, if savings do not meet projected shortfalls, work for projects to close that gap.

Reuse and reclamation: The recycling of “gray” and “black” water promises enormous resource savings. Here business has an aggressive role to play in developing and promoting safe, economical systems as well as installing them for its own use.