Walid Battal
A recent report reveals the enormous water stress that California has suffered over the past decade. Indeed, the World Resource Institute has warned of increasing water stress globally, with nearly a quarter of the population facing extremely high water stress. This situation is particularly present in the southwest of the United States of America, in the state of California. By 2040, this 31st state of the territory, could suffer a water shortage with an extremely high level of risk. Faced with growing demand and increasingly scarce rainfall, the situation is struggling to improve, mainly because of intensive agriculture (40% of water consumed for the production of crops such as pistachio, almonds or rice). The overexploitation of groundwater also causes water levels to drop. Already in 2022, 97% of the territory was exposed to moderate to exceptional drought. Hence the importance of thinking of optimal solutions to rationalize the use of water resources.
Some of the action plans put in place by the California government include:
1) Groundwater recharge : California has accelerated groundwater recharge projects, in particular by issuing more than 12 permits in 5 months, with the aim of storing more than 1.4 million m3 of water. Among other things, the granting of a 5-year authorization to divert water from the Cosumnes River, in order to allow the storage of water in wet periods for reuse during dry periods.
2) Capturing rainwater during flooding : The current governor, Gavin Newsom, and the Legislature have recently passed some legislation to maximize underground storage of flood waters. This is with a view to increasing the annual storage capacity by at least 308,370 million m3 by 2030.
3) Improvement of water infrastructure : the “California Water Plan 2023” emphasizes the strengthening of natural and built infrastructure, in particular through the modernization of dams and reservoirs (example of the San Luis reservoir, basin area: 219 km²), which will add 166.520 million m3 of additional storage. The 2023-2024 budget also allocates $100 million for the repair of dams, to ensure public safety while increasing storage capacity.
4) Reducing water demand : In order to reduce consumption, new efficiency standards are being developed for urban water suppliers, with the aim of reducing annual demand by 616.740 million m3 by 2030.
These actions are part of a global strategy to better manage water resources, while strengthening agricultural resilience to climate change.