Our hopes for March rains are quickly dissipating, as we are now expecting less than half an inch for the month. As our climate warms and periods of drought become more common, we need to come up with better options than “pray for rain.”
Last month we discussed the need to prepare for another water-scarce summer by taking steps to reduce our landscape water needs to better protect against the impacts of this continued dought. While water conservation is not the only tool available when in a dry period, it is the lowest-cost way to increase water security and supply in the long term with minimal impacts elsewhere.
As we continue to witness our region’s climate shift first-hand and look for water supply solutions, we must also actively work to ensure new water solutions are not contributing to our climate problems and will not fail us in extended dry periods. How affordable is it? Will it continue to be effective with other climate changes like increased temperatures and higher rates of evaporation? Is it an equitable solution? How much energy (GHGs) will it take to implement? How close are these new sources to the places we use water? How will each solution impact the River’s health? Because no one solution will get us through future dry periods, it is important we consider these questions so that proposed solutions are adopted in the best interest of our whole community.
Let’s repeat it again. The easiest, quickest, and lowest cost way to increase our water supplies is through conservation. Though it may sometimes seem like conservation is overly touted as the solution to all of our water woes, there’s always room for advancements to be made, particularly as new technology advances. While true conservation is not a total solution, it alone can help extend our finite water supplies immediately and in a way that is both low impact and cost efficient. It will always be necessary for us to take steps to permanently reduce use in our homes, on our landscapes, and on our farms so that we can extend our water storage to its greatest capacity and leave more for future dry years.
Other options we frequently hear about are water recycling and desalination. Both options would increase supply, but they are otherwise unequal in cost to implement, cost to our environment, and cost to our community. While neither option is considered cheap, water recycling gives a second and third life to our water supplies while remaining notably cheaper than desalination, imposing significantly fewer environmental harms, and can actually be used to recharge our groundwater supplies. In contrast, desalination is extremely energy intensive, produces harmful brine byproduct, harms marine life via intakes, and would require a massive infrastructure investment on our beautiful coastlines. Reduce, reuse, and recycle remains common sense.
Recharge basin in Coachella Valley
It is also important to consider the type and frequency of future rain events in our region, as evidence supports a growing shift to a few periodic atmospheric rivers each year instead of the multiple, small rain events that we are more used to. Being able to capture these downpours can get us through future summers, and fortunately, is something we can do at a variety of scales from individual homes, to small farms and larger reservoirs. We can then also use some of this captured water to recharge our aquifers which helps protect against the need for more expensive dams and reduces any evaporative losses.
Many of these solutions will require policy and regulatory changes, and increased flexibility from water users to be effective. How our water has been managed in the past is no longer sustainable for the health of our region and future generations that hope to live here as we do now. Water supply is one of the most pressing issues our Staff and Board are focused on, and if you have ideas please reach out and share them with us. This is one of the biggest challenges our community and river will face as our climate changes around us. We can move our community to a better place if we work together and focus on solutions.