Friday August 12, 2022
CalMatters —
California Gov. Gavin Newsom today unveiled a broad strategy for bolstering the state’s water supply that includes targets to recycle more water, expand reservoir storage and collect more data on the amounts farmers use.
Newsom warned that new strategies are essential because California’s water supply will shrink by 10% as climate change brings warmer, drier conditions throughout the state.
The plan, however, has limited details, distant deadlines and does not include a water conservation mandate.
It also does not include measures to substantially address water use by agriculture, which uses about four times more water in California than people in urban areas use.
Included in the plan are possible grants to fallow fields and programs to collect timely data on how much surface water growers use. It also floats the possibility of regulations to curtail growers’ pumping from rivers and streams beyond drought emergencies.