Water Out West

When the children of Californian farmer Janet Lompa ask where all of the water has gone she answers, "the politicians gave it all to the fish." While at first this seems like a cute answer you'd provide to a child you want to remain blissfully ignorant, there actually is truth to the statement and it hints at the complexity of water management in California. Today, NPR began a series on water, drought, and scarcity in the Western United States and their first segment focused on the Westlands region of central California. The Westlands is the largest irrigated region in the country and provides much of the nation’s fruits, nuts, and produce, not to mention billions of dollars to California’s economy each year. However, farmers in the region have been told that they will receive much less water from federal pumps than in years past, forcing farmers to cut down trees and leave fields fallow. The locals blame the government who, they argue, has failed to live up to its promises. The government is cutting supply because of dwindling populations of smelts, an endangered species, in the Sacramento Delta, keeping 300,000 acre-feet of water in the river. But, farmers point out, it would be naïve to blame the smelts because in truth the current problems has been a long time coming. Over the past 50 years the population of California has doubled but the water infrastructure has not kept up. The crux of the problem is years of mismanagement.

Not everyone agrees, however, with the other side saying there simply isn’t enough water to go around. Referring to the government’s decision, one of the disgruntled farmers, Tony Coehlo, said, “It’s kind of like putting you on a narcotic and [then] taking it away from you. It’s leaving you dry.” It seems that the farmer’s themselves recognize they have an addiction to plentiful, cheap water. These practices are quickly becoming unsustainable, however. As Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute has said, “We’ve got a situation where the federal government and state government have built infrastructure and made promises that can’t be kept because there isn’t enough water. That’s the reality.”

Whoever is right, it looks like this summer will be another exercise in restraint for Californians. The Department of Water Resources is predicting lower than average runoff from snowmelt and already 28 agencies in the state have imposed restrictions on water usage. Not all agencies are falling in line, however, with the San Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority and Westlands Water District recently filing motions to prevent the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from shutting down pumps.

Scenarios like this one are playing out all across the globe. It is obvious that neither side is wrong, but also that neither side is completely right. The dizzying array of government agencies is creating an incomplete puzzle of a bureaucracy that is slow to act and torn apart by pet interests. At the same time, irrigating a desert in the first place probably wasn’t the best idea. New technology and better infrastructure can help with conservation – and it seems like the public is receptive to going green, especially in California – but a new management scheme is required to improve the allocation.

Tune in to NPR’s Morning Edition over the coming weeks for more stories on water out West.