Central Valley California Drought
Currently, the water in California is being distributed by a series of tunnels running from the north to the south. These tunnels include the Central Valley Project (CVP), a Federal Government managed project, and California’s own State Water Project (SWP). The two make up “vast interconnected hydraulic machines that push melted snow from dams in the Sierras, through the Delta, to massive pumps that fill the aqueducts traversing the state,” to become what is essentially the southern region of the Central Valley’s lifeline in obtaining and delivering water (Madrigal). California’s battle with drought is not new. The problem dissipates, only to reemerge every few years, narrowing the options for State, Federal, and Local Government agencies
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Most notably, Alexis Madrigal, a writer for The Atlantic, brings up some surprising statistics about the city of Los Angeles’s urban consumers. Madrigal states that in an average year, they accumulate for the consumption of over 195,500,000,000 gallons of water. An astronomical amount of water to being used, considering that the city consumes the resource at one of the highest per-capita rate in the State, meaning that each person drinks more water than many of their counterparts throughout the state even with a larger population. The image is clear, the San Joaquin Valley’s water supply depletion must be faced head on, because its’ supply is also heavily relied upon by the agricultural industry as well. In “Lessons learned from the California drought”, Benedykt Dziegielewki writes …show more content…
In the worst of times California’s climate is destructive to the well being of not only Californian’s quality of life, but the surrounding ecosystems. With unseasonably high temperatures presenting issues farther into the future, in “Adapting California's water management to climate change”, the authors Ellen Hanak and Jay Lund provide an overview of the effects California’s climate has during times of drought, and the complications it presents for the State's water management. Water management in the state oversees a plethora of concerns; properly planning, supply and delivery of water, quality assurance, addressing floods, the corresponding risks it presents, and the use of water as an energy source through hydropower. Larger governmental powers, like the State and Federal organizations, both have control over the above stated aspects of water management when dealing with California’s climate. The smaller, local, governmental bodies uphold the day to day operations of those systems. Best described by Hanak and Lund as “institutional diversity”, citing that the widespread sharing of responsibilities offers greater flexibility in response to unforeseen challenges each face, relying on the innovation of processes towards a wetter tomorrow. From the perspective of those in charge of the water management in the state,
Most notably, Alexis Madrigal, a writer for The Atlantic, brings up some surprising statistics about the city of Los Angeles’s urban consumers. Madrigal states that in an average year, they accumulate for the consumption of over 195,500,000,000 gallons of water. An astronomical amount of water to being used, considering that the city consumes the resource at one of the highest per-capita rate in the State, meaning that each person drinks more water than many of their counterparts throughout the state even with a larger population. The image is clear, the San Joaquin Valley’s water supply depletion must be faced head on, because its’ supply is also heavily relied upon by the agricultural industry as well. In “Lessons learned from the California drought”, Benedykt Dziegielewki writes …show more content…
In the worst of times California’s climate is destructive to the well being of not only Californian’s quality of life, but the surrounding ecosystems. With unseasonably high temperatures presenting issues farther into the future, in “Adapting California's water management to climate change”, the authors Ellen Hanak and Jay Lund provide an overview of the effects California’s climate has during times of drought, and the complications it presents for the State's water management. Water management in the state oversees a plethora of concerns; properly planning, supply and delivery of water, quality assurance, addressing floods, the corresponding risks it presents, and the use of water as an energy source through hydropower. Larger governmental powers, like the State and Federal organizations, both have control over the above stated aspects of water management when dealing with California’s climate. The smaller, local, governmental bodies uphold the day to day operations of those systems. Best described by Hanak and Lund as “institutional diversity”, citing that the widespread sharing of responsibilities offers greater flexibility in response to unforeseen challenges each face, relying on the innovation of processes towards a wetter tomorrow. From the perspective of those in charge of the water management in the state,