Water
March 2010 - California's first statewide water plan, back in 1957, was literally a blueprint for moving water supplies throughout the state to meet urban and agricultural water demands. At that time, the concept of conservation meant storage of surface water in reservoirs created by dams.
More recent five-year water plans have had multiple goals for managing resources of surface and ground waters. These plans have tried to balance three, sometimes competing, needs for stable supplies of water to meet demands for drinking water, supplies needed for irrigation in California's agricultural sector, and in-stream flows needed to support aquatic life and riparian ecosystems. These more recent state plans have expanded the concept of conservation to include policy options for the control of the demand for water ("demand side management").
The theme of Water Plan Update 2009, which is expected to be released in April, is integrated water management and sustainability. For the first time, a steering committee of 21 state agencies and departments guided the preparation of the water plan, which now includes climate change as a variable that affects California's water resources. Update 2009 describes how climate change is expected to exacerbate the extreme fluctuation in our seasonal and annual quantities of water needed to meet our many competing demands.
Watch for more information coming soon, including links to the Department of Water Resource's 2009 Water Plan Update. We'll also report on LWVC participation in the Advisory Committee for DWR's water planning efforts: Where have we made progress? Where is further effort needed? How urgently do we need to move to fix the remaining problems?
March 2008 —We commented on the proposed Recycled Water Policy under consideration by the State Water Resources Control Board. 
We conditioned our support for recycling of water used for cooling power plants, recharging aquifers, and landscape and agricultural irrigation on the need for the agency to specify steps that will be taken to prevent contamination of underlying groundwater basins (especially from salts and emerging chemicals) and – should the underlying groundwater become contaminated – steps that will be taken to clean up the basins.
January 2008 - Even in the midst of drought, California can experience stormwater "riches." The capture of runoff, it's redirection to filtration facilities, wetlands, catch basins or groundwater recharge, was the topic of a one day seminar about better community planning for Low Impact Development (LID). The seminar title, Towards a More Humane Metropolis, was inspired by the book written by Rutherford H. Platt, author of The Humane Metropolis. The steps involved for LID programs are many and can be confusing. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a Diagram presented by Matt Yeager, the Storm Water Program Manager for the San Bernardino County Flood Control District can help make the cloudy concepts become a bit clearer. We also produced an article on this subject: "Stormwater Management and Low Impact Development" by Charolette Fox, Natural Resources Director.
September 2007 - The Governor has called a special legislative session to deal with water infrastructure. Read an overview of the issues to be addressed in "More Water, Less Cost?" by LWVC legislative consultant for water, Jack Sullivan.
March 2005 - Two representatives of the LWVC served on the Advisory Committee for the California Water Plan Update 2005.
Our letter to the Department of Water Resources illustrated the League's concerns as the update process took place.
| Background |
- Our positions on Water issues. Adopted by the League of Women Voters of California and the basis of our action.