state capitol, sacramento • april 25, 2014...uc drought science, policy & management summit...

Sponsored byUC Davis

UC Center Sacramento

State Capitol, Sacramento • April 25, 2014

Dear Friends,

Nothing is more vital to the health and prosperity of California than a safe and reliable water supply, as this third straight year of extreme dry conditions reminds us.

The University of California has long had scientists and other experts engaged at every level of water management and policy, bringing useful insights from multiple disciplines – engineering, economics, ecosystem management, water conservation, farming, forestry, public health and more.

Given the UC’s unique role and public service responsibility, we called for a summit of faculty from across our campuses and others to explore the best ways to mitigate effects of the current drought and prepare for future water shortages.

Our deep appreciation and a warm welcome to everyone participating in this Drought Science, Policy and Management Summit. We’re confident this will be a productive event. It will facilitate the long-term collaboration we need to stay healthy in a state that perpetually faces water chal-lenges.

Sincerely,

President Janet Napolitano, University of CaliforniaChancellor Linda P.B. Katehi, UC Davis

Campus liaisons

UC Berkeley • David SedlakUC Davis • Samuel Sandoval SolisUC Hastings • Brian GrayUC Irvine • David FeldmanUCLA • Glen MacDonaldUC Merced • Joshua ViersUC Riverside • Kurt SchwabeUC San Diego • Dan Cayan

Organizing committeeJay R. Lund, Chris Bowman, William Kuhlman, Paul Hosley, Rebecca Quiñones, Amber Manfree, Barbara Bellieu, Cathryn Lawrence, Adrian Lopez, Pat Bailey, Kat Kerlin

Organized by

UC Santa Barbara • Arturo KellerUC Santa Cruz • Andrew FisherUC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources • Doug ParkerUC Center Sacramento • Richard KravitzCal Poly San Luis Obispo • Charles BurtStanford University • Barton “Buzz” ThompsonPublic Policy Institute of California • Ellen Hanak

watershed.ucdavis.edu

UC Drought Science, Policy & Management Summit AgendaState Capitol • Room 4202 • April 25, 2014

11:45 am Lunch

1:00 pm Drought and the economy Katrina Jessoe • UC Davis (moderator) (pg 15) Josué Medellín-Azuara • UC Davis (pg 16) Daniel Sumner • UC Agricultural Issues Center (kick-off speaker) David Sunding • UC Berkeley (kick-off speaker)

2:00 pm Endangered species and drought Richard Frank • UC Davis Ellen Hanak • Public Policy Institute of California (moderator) David Hayes • Stanford University; former deputy Interior secretary (pg 17) Peter Moyle • UC Davis (kick-off speaker) (pg 18) Davis Sedlak • UC Berkeley (pg 19) Joshua Viers • UC Merced (pg 20)

3:00 pm State policy for future droughts Jay Famiglietti • UC Irvine Thomas Harter • UC Davis Ruth Langridge • UC Santa Cruz (pg 21) Steve Macaulay • consultant, former Chief Deputy Director DWR (kick-off speaker) (pg 22) Samuel Sandoval Solis • UC Davis (pg 23) Kurt Schwabe • UC Riverside (moderator) (pg 24)

4:00 pm Closing remarks Phil Isenberg • Delta Stewardship Council

4:30 pm Closing reception UC Center Sacramento 1130 K Street, Suite LL2

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Participants were invited to submit a briefing sheet for inclusion in the following pages of this program.

8:00 am Registration

8:30 am Introduction

8:40 am UC activities to reduce water use Barbara Allen-Diaz • UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Matthew St.Clair • University Office of the President (pg 2)

9:00 am Current drought: how bad is it? Amir AghaKouchak • UC Irvine (moderator) (pg 3) Michael Anderson • State Climatologist (pg 4) Daniel Cayan • UC San Diego (kick-off speaker) (pg 5) Glen MacDonald • UCLA Travis O’Brien • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Daniel Swain • Stanford University (pg 6)

10:00 am Drought-proofing California Michael Stenstrom • UCLA (pg 7) Jay Lund • UC Davis (pg 8)

10:15 am Break

10:30 am Coping with the drought Kenneth Baerenklau • UC Riverside (pg 9) Roger Bales • UC Merced (pg 10) Charles Burt • Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (pg 11) Frank Loge • UC Davis (moderator) (pg 12) Stephanie Pincetl • UCLA (kick-off speaker) (pg 13) Scott Stephens • UC Berkeley (pg 14)

11:30 am Chancellor’s remarks Linda P.B. Katehi • UC Davis

University of California Drought Summit drought.ucdavis.edu

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Sponsored by UC Davis April 25, 2014

MATTHEW ST.CLAIRUC Systemwide Sustainability Manager

UC Office of the President

[email protected]

University of California’s response to drought

Summary

The University of California is extending its leadership in water efficiency and conservation in response to the current drought.

Plans call for further irrigation cutbacks, increased leak detection and repair and low-flow plumbing in areas not yet modernized.

Educational campaigns include drought Web sites, stickers, digital displays in residence and dining halls and signage highlighting drought-tolerant gardens and ornamental fountains that have been turned off.

Last year, UC adopted a policy goal to reduce per capita water use by 20 percent by 2020. Seven of the 15 campuses and medical centers have already achieved the goal – even in the face of substantial growth – and are finding further reductions.

Key points

• In the past 10-15 years, UC has reduced potable water consumption by 500 million gallons a year – enough to supply an entire UC campus.

• UC recently required all 15 campuses and medical centers to reduce per capita consump-tion of potable water 20 percent by 2020.

• Campuses have strengthened their public education campaigns on ways individuals and businesses can reduce water consumption, particularly in landscaping.


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AMIR AGHAKOUCHAKAssistant Professor

UC Irvine

[email protected]

Californians could heed lessons from Australia’s ‘Millenium Drought’

Summary

California's history of drought has led to statewide strategies to save water, but residents and policymakers can do even more:

They can look to Australia's experience with a drought so intense and long-lasting it was dubbed the Millennium Drought. Despite blows to crop yields and livestock numbers, the country’s rate of growth in agricultural production quickly returned to pre-drought levels. Australia buffered this major drought with critical water reforms, including:

• Well-developed water markets that allowed water trade to farmers in greatest need.

• Modernization of irrigation infrastructure that increased water-use efficiency.

• Establishment of clear water entitlements for the environment that protected critical refuge habitats and species populations as water availability declined.

Key points

• Californian residents and policymakers can do more to save water by heeding Austra-lia's experience in the Millennium Drought.

• Satellite observations present significant opportunities for improving drought monitoring and prediction.


4


Today’s drought and climate

Summary

California is in its third straight year of extremely dry conditions, resulting in widespread water shortages. Calendar year 2013 was the driest in the state’s 120 years of record, and this past winter was the warmest on record.

In the previous two water years (Oct. 1 - Sept. 30), late and then early season “atmospheric rivers” provided enough rain and snow to overshadow the underlying dryness.

In this water year, two late-winter storms offset the worst of dry conditions but failed to prevent widespread water shortages. The spring outlook is for continued below normal precipitation and above normal temperatures.

Long-range forecasts show a 50 percent probability of an El Niño, but there is no consistent correlation between El Niño and seasonal precipitation in Northern California.

Key points

• Record or near record warmth and dryness have spanned California recently.

• Current conditions are similar to those in the 1976-1977 drought, though annual average temperatures are 2 degrees (F) higher.

• The past 3 years have had drought-like elements culminating in today’s extremely dry conditions.

• Seasonal forecasting needs more improvement to yield useable information for managing resources.

MICHAEL L. ANDERSONState Climatologist

California Department of Water Resources

[email protected]


5


Our sensitivity to drought: California’s weather and climate profile

Summary

The California drought will likely extend through 2015. The present climate regime has thwarted the occurrence of large storms in much of California during the last 3 years, to the point where most conceivable sequences of winter storms will be unable to deliver enough rain and snow to erase the drought next year.

The presence or absence of a few large storms is a crucial feature of California's dry and wet spells, so there is a need to better understand and predict short-period extremes and long-period regimes. Climate change could worsen California's exposure to drought.

Key points

• Large-scale climate patterns that drive California’s dry and wet spells need to be better understood and better predicted.

• Improved understanding and prediction of large storms is needed.

• Implications of global climate change projections for drought in California need to be better understood.

DANIEL CAYANResearcher

Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, and U.S. Geological Survey

[email protected]


6


DANIEL SWAINPhD Candidate

Stanford University

[email protected]

The California drought: An extreme climate event

Summary

The current drought brought the driest 12-month period on record in California. This drought is meteorologically similar to earlier ones in California, but its short-term intensity is notably greater than even the epic drought of 1976-1977.

Given the strong possibility of a significant El Niño event this year, it's important to be mindful that California can transition very quickly from extremely dry to extremely wet conditions.

Key points

• The current California drought is a very rare event in a climate context.

• The 2013-2014 drought brought the driest 12-month period in at least 119 years.

• Despite recent precipitation, extreme to exceptional drought conditions persist and are unlikely to improve before the next rainy season.


7


How wastewater reclamation can help

Summary

Wastewater reclamation, which has been growing in Southern California since the 1960s, is an important component to solving the state wide water crisis.

As water becomes scarcer, reclamation will need to take on more roles, including more “indi-rect potable” reuse – using aquifers or other environmental buffers to purify wastewater efflu-ent before delivery to drinking water treatment plants.

“Direct potable” reclamation – using engineered purification before drinking water treatment or direct feed to potable water lines – is becoming attractive, thanks to technological advancements. Distributed and on-site wastewater treatment for greywater – drainage from bathing, laundering and washing dishes – provides additional opportunities for reclamation.

Key points

• Urban water conservation measures have already been applied, making additional con-servation more challenging.

• Technologies exist to create any level of purity desired.

• Centralized treatment can provide high-quality reclaimed water, but often not where it is needed.

• Distributed and on-site treatment provides additional opportunities for reclamation by supplying the water where it is needed.

MICHAEL STENSTROMProfessor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

UCLA

[email protected]


8


Drought-proofing California - Is it possible or desirable?

Summary

California is inherently prone to droughts. We cannot drought-proof California, but with care and integration we can make droughts less damaging to our economy, communities and environment.

We must balance the costs and harm of drought against the costs of reducing this harm. Balancing requires a portfolio approach.

State government can advance local, regional and statewide portfolio drought planning by enforcing and quantifying water rights; providing more progressive financial authority and environmental regulation; and developing authoritative information and analytical capability to support local actions and cooperation.

Key Points

• We cannot drought-proof California, and no silver bullet can solve the state’s water prob-lems.

• California is tied together by its interconnected water system, despite its controversies.

• Economic activities that typically are hardest hit by drought are agriculture, hydropower and the forest industry, but they comprise a small part of the state’s economy.

• The current drought will likely spur reforms in groundwater management, water conserva-tion, small community water systems and, hopefully, public financing of water projects.

Further reading

CaliforniaWaterBlog.com

Hanak et al. (2011) Managing California’s Water: From Conflict to Reconciliation, PPIC.org

JAY R. LUNDProfessor of Civil and Environmental EngineeringDirector of the Center for Watershed Sciences

UC Davis

[email protected]


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KENNETH BAERENKLAUProfessor

UC Riverside

[email protected]

Managing water scarcity with conservation-based utility rates

Summary

A growing number of California utilities are considering an innovative pricing structure called “increasing block-rate water budgets” to manage severe water shortages.

“Blocks” are defined by household characteristics, environmental conditions and the associ-ated “water budget” – meaning “efficient” water use, as determined by the utility. Increasing block-rate water budgets are designed to promote conservation; rates escalate with each succeeding block of usage.

This pricing structure appears to be a highly effective way to save water without significantly increasing the average price paid for water, based on a pilot study in the Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD), which serves southwestern Riverside County.

Key points

• EMWD gradually reduced water demand by switching to a water budget rate.

• A reduction of approximately 15 percent was achieved over more than 3 years.

• The average prices paid under water budgets increased by less than 4 percent – com-pared with a 30 percent increase that would have been needed to achieve the same reduction under uniform rates.


10


Forest management and stream flows in the Sierra

Summary

Pressures of climate change and growing demand on a potentially diminishing water resource raise the importance of forest management in the Sierra Nevada.

Fire-suppression policies of the past century have resulted in unsustainably dense forests with accompanying increases in water consumption.

Recent field research provides a basis for predicting how Sierra snowpack storage, evapo-transpiration and runoff will respond to a warming climate and changes in fire and vegetation management. Methods for verifying water benefits of forest management are now available.

Key points

• There is a high water consumption across a wide swath of Sierra forest.

• Sustained forest management can provide measurable benefits for water supply.

• Better information is critical for water security, especially in a warming and more variable climate.

ROGER BALESProfessor

UC Merced

[email protected]


11


Hard decisions required for allocation of shortages

Summary

California’s overall water consumption exceeds its supply. The state needs more water stor-age, both above and below ground. Efficiencies in farm irrigation practices and systems will continue to increase, but those improvements will not "conserve" water for the state (except where return waters flow to salt sinks). Improved irrigation will continue to be costly but will increase crop yields per unit of water and energy consumed and fertilizer applied.

Key points

• Irrigation district modernization is essential but very expensive.

• Farm irrigation improvements will not yield more water for the state but will benefit crop yields, fertilizer management and energy consumption.

• The groundwater overdraft is serious, and much of the problem arises outside irrigation districts.

• The state must provide significantly more support for irrigation education.

CHARLES BURTProfessor, BioResource and Agricultural Engineering Department

Irrigation Training and Research Center, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo

[email protected]

Improved farm irrigation usually does not reduce water consumption, but it can maxi-mize crop production per drop of consumed water and per kilowatt-hour of energy used.


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FRANK LOGEProfessor and Director

Center for Water Energy Efficiency, UC Davis

[email protected]

Advanced information systems can improve water conservation

Summary

Advanced meter and sensor technologies have been increasingly used in water systems, generating significantly more detailed information than previously available. However, water agencies have not fully developed the ability to incorporate these “big data” streams into useable information.

The integration and consolidation of data at the enterprise level has great value in address-ing the broader institutional challenges of maintaining resilient water systems – one that can readily adjust to rapid change, such as in weather conditions, energy prices and other eco-nomic activity.

Key points

• Consumers often are unclear on how their water use compares with others, making it less likely that they will take actions to conserve water.

• Water utilities often lack the ability to target con-servation programs to high-water users.

• Information systems are integral to conservation programs.


13


Fragmented water governance impedes drought management in LA County

Summary

Lack of transparency and accountability among Los Angeles County’s many different water purveyors make it nearly impossible to know how drought is being addressed. The county has more than 100 purveyors operating at different scales and with widely varying methods of reporting, accountability and program implementation.

Key points

• Better accounting of water use and more transparency in water pricing is needed across purveyors.

• The region should set a 2020 target for reducing per capita water use among all purvey-ors.

• Indoor and outdoor water use should be metered separately so water can be priced differ-entially.

STEPHANIE PINCETLDirector and Professor-in-ResidenceCalifornia Center for Sustainable Communities

UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

[email protected]


14


Sierra forests: restoration, fire and climate change

Summary

Before 1800, about 1.1 million acres of forests burned annually in California. Today far less than 10 percent of this area burns each year. The reduction in burned acreage has had a profound impact on ecosystems.

Most fires burning today are causing ecological harm. This includes the Rim Fire of 2013, the largest Sierra Nevada wildfire in more than a century of recordkeeping.

Our researchers happened to survey the Rim Fire area shortly before the fire broke. We were re-measuring plots that had been documented more than a century earlier and found a stun-ning change in forest density: 220 trees an acre compared with onty 20 trees an acre in 1911. Had the forest structure been similar to that in 1911, the Rim Fire would have been ecologi-cally beneficial.

Research in the past 20 years clearly shows that forest thinning and prescribed fires cause almost no ecological harm and have many positive effects. However, in the Sierra, less than 20 percent of the area needing these treatments is occurring today. At this pace, 60 percent of the federal forested area in the Sierra will go untreated in the next 30 years.

Key points

• Sierra forests are very susceptible to mortality from drought and fire.

• Research clearly shows forest restoration is beneficial.

• U.S. Forest Service plans for the next 10 to 30 years are being revised, so we must act now to increase the scale and pace of forest restoration.

• If we don’t act, our grandchildren will have fewer options.

SCOTT STEPHENSProfessor of Fire Science

UC Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management

[email protected]

KATRINA JESSOEAssistant Professor

UC Davis

[email protected]


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Drivers of residential water consumption

Summary

Our understanding of household decision-making on water use is far from complete, making it difficult to choose the most effective conservation policies.

Introducing real-time meters and collaborations between utilities and academics will likely improve our knowledge of customer behavior.

As an example, the East Bay Municipal Utility District said it saw a 5 percent reduction in residential water use during a one-year trial of WaterSmart, a service that shows custom-ers how their water use compares to that of their neighbors living in similar sized homes.

The pilot points to the potential role of non-price policies to induce conservation. However, we must also gain insight into the price responsiveness of residential customers and assess what tools are available to improve customer responsiveness to price.


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JOSUÉ MEDELLÍN-AZUARAResearch Scientist

UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

[email protected]

A portfolio approach for reducing long-term economic impacts of drought in agriculture

Summary

California agriculture has been remarkably adaptable during droughts, thanks mostly to the availability of groundwater in the Central Valley, home to more than 70 percent of the state’s irrigated cropland.

Growers’ decades-long reliance on groundwater, however, has led to severe overdraft of the region’s groundwater, undermining its availability to replace surface water supplies during dry years.

Portfolio approaches for maintaining a reliable water supply for Valley farms could reduce costs of water shortages in the long run – as they have done for urban ratepayers in Southern California.

Groundwater banking, aggressive water conservation programs, water markets and infra-structural investments with a ratepayer funding base play a significant role in making this possible.

Key points

• Central Valley growers have long relied on groundwater to get by during droughts.

• Severe overdraft has reduced the long-term availability of groundwater during droughts.

• A portfolio approach for increasing water supply reliability may reduce the cost of drought.

• Groundwater banking, artificial recharge, conservation and water markets often reduce dependence on groundwater overdraft.

• A stable revenue stream is needed to implement and maintain portfolio strategies.


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DAVID J. HAYESLecturer in Law

Stanford Law School

[email protected]

Breaking out of the Endangered Species Act death spiral

Summary

The Endangered Species Act-driven issues surrounding the conveyance of export water in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta have become even more acute during the drought.

We need to pivot from single-species, stop-gap measures to a more holistic, land-scape-health framework for the Delta. The Bay Delta Conservation Plan holds promise for delivering this fundamental change and moving us out of the courts and into adaptive man-agement-oriented field work.

Key points

• The last 20 years have tested the viability of the north-to-south water conveyance system under the best and worst of circumstances, and the system has been found want-ing.

• The Delta’s ecological future and water reliability are now at severe risk.

• The Bay Delta Conservation Plan holds the most promise for progress.

• The status quo is not sustainable.


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PETER MOYLEProfessor

UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

[email protected]

Native fishes and drought

Summary

The drought is helping to create more endangered fish species.

California has a highly endemic native freshwater fish fauna that is already in severe decline. Most of the 130 species are extinct or federally listed as “threatened” or “endangered” with extinction, or state-listed as “species of special concern.”

Despite legal mandates to protect them, these fishes receive little consideration in drought emergencies and little water is allocated for their needs.

A statewide conservation strategy is needed to enhance and protect habitats of freshwater fishes and other aquatic organisms before the next severe drought hits.

Key points

• California native freshwater fishes are in severe decline even without drought.

• Drought accelerates declines and makes recovery difficult.

• Increases in extinctions and endangered species listings will further complicate water management without better protection of native fishes during drought.


19


Urban water recycling leaves more water for aquatic ecosystems

Summary

Recycling of municipal wastewater effluent and the capture and use of urban runoff will play important roles in helping cities reduce reliance on imported water, according to recent research. Such reductions leave more water for protection of sensitive aquatic ecosystems.

Management of natural treatment systems such as wetlands can improve the quality of wast-erwater effluent and urban runoff that empty to rivers, streams and estuaries.

The Prado Wetland System on the Santa Ana River exemplifies this approach. Pharmaceuti-cals, nitrate and waterborne pathogens are removed as the river passes through an actively managed constructed wetland.

Key points

• Cities can greatly reduce their reliance on imported water, and this savings can be used to protect sensitive aquatic ecosystems.

• Many of California's rivers, streams and estuaries receive much of their water from outflows of municipal sewage treatment plants.

• Constructed wetlands can remove pharmaceuticals, hormones and other contaminants from municipal wastewater effluent and urban runoff.

DAVID SEDLAKCo-Director and Professor

UC Berkeley Water Center and Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

[email protected]

Water allocation schemes inadequate

Summary

California annually allocates water based on a water-year index designation that varies from wet to critically dry. This system of water typing is arbitrary and inadequate for addressing changing hydro-climatic conditions.

Even if precipitation levels remain unchanged, the current state of managed aquatic ecosys-tems requires rethinking and overhauling of water management policies.

The State Water Resources Control Board database of water rights estimates that more than 370 million acre-feet of surface water is allocated every year, even with the state often receiving only about 70 million acre-feet of runoff in a wet year.

Key points

• Water-type indices are arbitrary, inflexi-ble and inadequate for allocating water during changing hydro-climatic conditions.

• Changing hydro-climatic conditions are expected to decrease the quantity and quality (i.e. cold water) of dam releases, particularly in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers.

• California allocates far too much water even without the inclusion of pre-1914 and riparian water rights.

• State law requires that fishes be kept in good condition below dams, but the law is rarely enforced.

• Dam operations can be adjusted to support healthy aqyuatic ecosystems.


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JOSHUA VIERSAssociate Professor, School of Engineering

UC Merced

[email protected]


21


Groundwater reserves would reduce drought vulnerability

Summary

Past responses to drought have increased our vulnerability to water supply shortages. Devel-oping local groundwater drought reserves during wet years would increase resilience to future droughts.

California’s usual response to drought is to curtail water use after a drought begins, promote conservation, develop new sources of supply and increase groundwater withdrawals to com-pensate for reduced surface supplies.

But new water supplies developed in response to dry years are typically used for municipal and agricultural development rather than to adequately recharge groundwater aquifers depleted during a drought. The state then becomes more vulnerable in a future drought.

Developing groundwater reserves, especially ones sourced and used locally, will recover and stabilize groundwater levels so that increased groundwater pumping during a drought will not further degrade aquifers.

Key points

• Developing local groundwater drought reserves during wet years can increase resilience to future droughts.

• Historical responses to drought have increased our vulnerability.

• Many groundwater aquifers are already overdrafted and polluted.

• Developing sustainable thresholds for groundwater drawdown and governance structures and mechanisms to improve groundwater management would help avoid overdraft and sustain drought reserves – preventing impacts before they occur.

RUTH LANGRIDGE Researcher

Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, Legal Studies ProgramUC Santa Cruz

[email protected]


22


STEVE MACAULAYConsultant

Macaulay Water Resources

[email protected]

Retrospective, resources and rewards

Summary

Low rainfall, available drought-water supplies, increasing demands and contingency plans affect how California adapts to drought. We should expect a greater frequency of drought-like conditions as we’ve seen in the past decade.

Water demands continue to increase while our ability to carry water storage from one year to the next remains fixed. Groundwater – California’s most important drought reserve – is in worse shape today than in the droughts of 1976-1977 and 1987-1992.

We need to learn from the past, have drought resources in place and update drought plans for the future.

Key points

• Retrospective: learn from past droughts, including how well our drought plans worked.

• Resources: make sure we always have drought contingencies in place and periodically review their adequacy.

• Rewards: encourage and reward those who plan well for the future, especially as it relates to groundwater.


23


SAMUEL SANDOVAL SOLISAssistant Professor

UC Davis

[email protected]

Efficient water use in California

Summary

Water use in California has become more efficient in supplying water for agricultural needs., but this is strategy is not a silver bullet. Efficient water use is just one in a suite of strategies to improve water management in California. In addition, greater irrigation efficiency can have unintended adverse consequences, such as a reduction in groundwater recharge.

Key points

• Efficient use of water is not a silver bullet, but one in a suite of strategies needed to improve water management.

• Improving irrigation efficiency can have the unintended effect of decreasing the recharge of groundwater needed for irrigation.

• Conjunctive use of water (surface water, groundwater, recycled water) is needed to improve the economic and environmental benefits related to water use.


24


Water conservation: Untapped opportunities and uninformed approaches

Summary

Cost-effective responses to drought are best achieved by adopting a portfolio approach of supply augmentation, demand management and institutional reform. Collaboration among researchers and water agencies will likely lead to more informed and effective water man-agement and further cost-effective reductions in water scarcity.

Key points

• Great progress has been made, but big opportunities remain for increasing water-use efficiency on farms and reducing per capita water use in cities.

• Current water conservation strategies – particularly in the residential sector – are poorly informed, thus limiting their water savings and cost-effectiveness.

• More integrated water management within and across regions likely provides additional cost-effective opportunities for lessening the effects of drought.

KURT SCHWABEAssociate Professor of Environmental Economics and Policy

UC Riverside Water Science and Policy Center

[email protected]

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Source: CA Department of Water ResourcesCalifornia Data Exchange Center

Organized by the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

state capitol, sacramento • april 25, 2014...uc drought science, policy & management summit...

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