State’s Future Water Needs

Local water officials who believe “nobody’s especially worried about a drought” because of last year’s above-average rainfall (Jan. 15) need a splash of cold water to wake them up to reality. California’s population of 32 million is expected to soar to 49 million by 2020 and to 60 million by 2040. Our state’s water supply and delivery system, to which few additions or improvements have been made since the 1970s, can hardly handle current population, let alone millions more.

Many of California’s leading jobs and income-producing industries, such as manufacturing, high-technology and agriculture, require a stable and affordable water supply to thrive. Without additions and improvements to the state’s water system, drought conditions similar to those experienced several years ago will become commonplace, not so much because of rainfall but because demand will simply outpace the supply.

The area of greatest concern for the state’s water system, and the millions who depend or it, is the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The delta supplies water to factories, farms and more than 20 million Southern California residents. Structural repairs must be made in the delta to facilitate the transfer of water to cities, industry and agriculture, and to resuscitate the ecological health of the estuary, which provides habitat to a unique diversity of wildlife. Additional water supplies also must be developed to keep pace with inevitable growth and to sustain California’s $750-billion economy.

That “nobody’s especially worried about a drought” reveals a lamentable indifference on the part of water officials that, if not corrected, will hinder necessary progress on this critical issue.

GEOFFREY VANDEN HEUVEL

Chairman, Delta Restoration Coalition

Chino