The Peoples Papers

The California Drought: How It Could End an

Entire State
Crystal Yu
April 13 2015

Introduction: Evidence of the Drought

Californias reservoirs, especially Folsom Lake, are hitting a critical point. Folsom
Lake is created by the Folsom Dam to provide drinking water, irrigation, and
flood control to Californias Central Valley.1 In January 2014, Lake Folsom was
only at 17% of its normal capacity and visitors and tourists could walk out into
the dried out lake and only see a mere puddle of what remains of the reservoir. 2
Figure 1 below illustrates the stark difference in water level of Folsom Lake from
2011 to 2014. Lake Folsom is only one of many water sources that have been
virtually vanished over the four years of the current California drought.

Figure 1
"Folsom Lake Before and After." Folsom Lake State Recreation Area. California Department of
Parks and Recreation, Feb. 2014. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. <http://www.parks.ca.gov/?
page_id=500>.

California is no stranger to droughts. Prior to the current one now, the states
next infamous drought is the California Drought of 1976. The 1976 drought only
had a lifespan of two years but is still a not-too-distant memory for many
Californian residents.

The entire state of California is considered to be abnormally dry while 80% of

the state is in extreme or exceptional drought conditions, according to the
United States Drought Monitor. 3 This specific drought has been cited to be the
driest since 1580 and the state has received less rain in any year since its
introduction to statehood in 1850. 4 Figure 2 below depicts drought conditions
ranging from abnormally dry to exceptional drought, with a large majority of
the state in the exceptional drought category.

Figure 2
"U.S Drought Monitor California." U.S Drought Monitor California. U.S Drought Monitor, 2 Apr.
2015. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. <http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?
CA>.

California is the worlds fifth largest supplier of food and the drought has already
imposed financial havoc upon the state.5 The University of California Davis
conducted a research study and the report released states that Californias
agricultural industry is facing a net water shortage of 1.6 million acre-feet this
year. The study concludes that the lack of water will result in a loss of $810
million from crops, $203 million from dairy and livestock, and an additional of
$454 million in groundwater pumping costs. Factoring in lost jobs, which are
around 17,000, the total financial impact to the Californian economy is to be
approximately $2.2 billion.6
Along with the obvious scarcity of water, the drier climate has provoked longer,
more frequent, and more intense forest fires. Californias wild fires have always
been notorious but the state has exceeded its $209 million wildfire-fighting
budget to another $70 million. According to Tim Kuhn, a hydrologist for the
Yosemite National Park, the forest fires not burn only burn the tree trunks and
branches but also the tree roots. Hence, the roots abilities are weakened and
are unable to hold onto soil. Without the roots to cover the soil, rain directly hits
the soil particles, which then mobilizes heavy metals that will contaminate
water. The loose soil will increase turbidity of the water, forcing water-treatment

facilities to work much harder to clean the water. Kuhn claims turbidity is a
really big challenge because thats a really fine sediment, and so it takes forever
for that to settle out. It becomes a real treatment issue. 7 The increased
difficulties of separating the sediment from water ultimately costs more and is a
further financial burden upon the state, along with the already existent strain
brought upon by the drought.
As these complex issues and problems of the drought in California persist, the
state legislature, residents, farmers, and those related to the agriculture
industry should take notice. The goal for the California state legislature and
lawmakers should be to save the agriculture sector and their constituents from
further harm by the drought.

Evaluating Current Actions: Governor Jerry Brown

On March 27th 2015, Governor of California Jerry Brown signed a $1.1 billion
drought relief and flood protection package. Within the relief package, $660
million is allocated to flood control projects and approximately $273 million to
water recycling and drinking water quality programs. Another $75 million is
included to fund programs like emergency food aid for farmworkers. The relief
package has accelerated spending, which allows money to be used
immediately instead of after July 1st 2015, which is the start of the next budget
year. 8
Governor Brown faced opposition to the relief package by the Republican Party
as the GOPs argument stated that the package overextended governments role
into water policy. Due to the resistance from the opposition, compromises were
made but have essentially made the package futile. Instead of implementing
incentives for businesses and households to replace toilets, showerheads,
dishwashers, and washing machines with their low-flow counterpart products,
the relief package does not address water-wasting appliances. The package
does the bare minimum by merely requiring restaurants to fill customers water
glasses only if asked and for hotels to offer only one towel per guest until
requested. Furthermore, the $660 million approved for flood control projects is
considered to be useless. Though some areas may be more prone to flooding
due to the arid land being over pumped, this tactic is not saving water and
wasting $660 million. Lawn and garden maintenance are mentioned but only
briefly. For example, limits are imposed, like the Santa Clara Valley Water District
is expected to restrict each household from watering lawns to no more than two
times a week or give a fine of $500. But, money is not distributed to the local
regional water districts for enforcement of such measures from the relief
package. 9
These are steps taken in the right direction, however more drastic and efficient
methods are necessary to curtail the drought and its devastating effects.
Therefore, three feasible solutions the California state government should
consider to alleviate the drought are:

recycling water
tax breaks and government aid
desalination

From Toilet to Tap: Recycling Water to Mitigate the

Drought
The first possible solution is recycling water, starting with wastewater then
chemically treated to replenish underground water aquifers, consumption, and
other needs. The process begins with the sewage, which is put through filters
that wipe out bacteria. Then, the facility uses reverse osmosis to remove all
the molecules that are not H2O. Put simply, whatever is left over is chemically
disinfected and exposed to ultraviolet light, essentially making the water
distilled. The next step to take is to make the recycled water direct potable use
and sending the now purified wastewater back to the tap. 10 See below in Figure 3
for the illustrated process.

wastewate
r put
through
filters

reverse
osmosis
leaves
H2O
molecules

chemically
disinefctio
n and
ultraviolet
light

Figure 3

This solution has received backlash as some consider the idea of drinking
wastewater as off-putting. However, one should keep in mind that the scientific
process of cleaning makes the water completely safe and drinkable for
consumers. For instance, in Israel, 80% of their water source is recycled and has
had no complications since its inception since 2010. 11 Within the state of
California, there are already such facilities in operation. For example, in Orange
County, California, 2.4 million residents receive their water from underground
aquifers, which since 2008, has been recharged with billions of gallons of
purified wastewater. The Orange County Water District believes in the success of
water recycling treatment centers, thus starting a $142 million expansion
project. Orange County Water District officials project that the plant will be
producing 100 million gallons of water each day. Meanwhile in northern
California, there is a plant recycling wastewater called the Silicon Valley
Advanced Water Purification Center. The center recycles approximately 8 million
gallons of water every day for the Santa Clara County. 12

Both centers are asking the state government to provide more funding to
expand so more water could be filtered through this facility and help aid other
families and small business with their water needs. The California lawmakers
and government should consider recycling water as a serious prospect to
mitigate the states drought as conditions are worsening without any other
solutions on the horizon.

Tax Breaks and Subsidies: Moving the Process

Along Faster
With the technologically innovative Silicon Valley in the same state, the state
legislature and its lawmakers can promote tax breaks to venture capitalists and
entrepreneurs to fund and create new start-ups that would help solve the water
crisis. Investors have coined a new term, precision agriculture, which is a
concept that utilizes the latest technology like robotics, drones, and sensors to
help farmers develop and harvest crops with less energy, water and fertilizer. 13
For instance, WaterSmart is a San Francisco based start-up that provides clients,
usually families, with a home water report, suggestions on how to cut back on
water usage, and detects leaks in common places like pipes and sprinklers. 14
Yet, those against this proposition will say that California cannot afford to give
more tax breaks with an already weakened economy from the damage of the
agriculture industry. Or theyll argue that business people should be willing to
help out with the states drought without any monetary incentive. The financial
state of California is impaired from the water deficit but if such incentives are in
placed, the process of finding solutions will be moved along much faster and
quicker. Thus, a tax break or any other incentive would be beneficial and cost
less than the money lost as an effect of the drought.
Another possible solution to go hand in hand with these tax breaks is to have
those with a stake in the agriculture industry to fund money towards these startups. For instance, approximately 84% of the worlds almonds are produced in
the state of California.15 And as the drought advances, the almond becomes
harder to grow, as its a water intensive crop. Therefore, the almond packaging
industry should funnel money towards companies fighting the drought.
A counter argument would claim that such businesses are not actually
incentivized or this is not their responsibility and will just find another source.
But, their incentive is that their crop hardly exists outside the state and
searching for other places to yield such crops will be too costly.
Other forms of subsidies could also take place, such as aid from the state
government for famers who have been heavily impacted by the drought in order
to prevent a total collapse of Californias agriculture sector. With already 17,000
lost jobs, the Californias economy 6 is slowly dwindling with the combination of

the lingering drought; the decreasing number of employed farmers will overall
further affect the financial aspects of the state.
Many will not support a measure that will provide aid to farmers, since the end
of the drought is unforeseeable and indefinite aid is not popular among
taxpayers. Except, with a simple cost and benefit analysis, having California
residents pay more to help their fellow resident farmer is worth the cost because
farmers losing their livelihoods and sources of income will do more damage to
the economy than farmers with governmental subsidies.

Desalination: Looking to the Ocean

Desalination was invented in the 1950s in California 16 but was only discussed
and debated on and never experimented with. Desalination is a process in which
salt water is taken and has all the salt in it removed. The water is then
considered treated and can be used for drinking or other purposes. The first
step is to pump seawater into pipes that have screens, which prevent sea
creatures from being sucked in. Then, solid waste is sent to landfill while
bacteria, viruses, and sediment are completely filtered out. The third step is
when the large majority of salt and minerals are taken out of the water. This
step is similar to recycling water, as both require reverse osmosis. The filters
for the third step have superfine membrane that leave out salt and unwanted
contaminators. The leftover water from the third step is called brine and is
mixed with wastewater or seawater before taken back to the ocean. The
freshwater from the third step is transferred to post-treatment in which the
water is further treated and chlorinated. Finally, the last step is storing the water
for municipal water systems to provide.16 Look below at Figure 4 for a more
detailed process.

Figure 4

"From Saltwater to Tap Water." Chart. San Jose Mercury News. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_25859513/ nations-largest-ocean-desalination-plant-goesup-near?source=infinite>.

Carlsbad, near San Diego, California is now home to the biggest desalination
plant in the Western Hemisphere.17 The project is costing approximately $1
billion and is projected to provide San Diego County with 56 million gallons of
water on a day to day basis when its open for business in 2016. 16 With high
hopes for the success of the Carlsbad Desalination Plant, fifteen other new
plants have been proposed. The majority of these new plants are to be located
in Southern California, where there is even less water in the already comparably
dry Northern California. Three desalination plants already exist and are in
commission within the state, located at Sand City, San Nicolas Island, and Santa
Catalina Island. Look below at Figure 5 for an illustrated map of existing and
proposed desalination treatment plants in California.

Figure 5
California Department of Water Sources. "Desalination in California." Chart. San Jose Mercury
News.N.p., 29 May 2014. Web. 9 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_25859513/nations-largest-ocean-desalinationplant-goes-up-near?source=infinite>.

Desalinated water typically costs around $2,000 an acre-foot, which is an

estimated amount a family of five would use throughout a year. 18 The price tag
of the process of desalinating water is higher but this provides a way for the
state of California to no longer be dependent on the Colorado River or the
Sacramento- San Joaquin River Delta, according to Bob Yamada, the resources

manager at the San Diego County Water Authority. He also states desalination
offers us local control. 18 Despite the heftier cost, depending on ocean water is
more reliable and wipes out the worry of running out of water. With the rise of
new treatment plants and more funding, the future of desalination water will
include new technology and innovation to make the entire process less
expensive. However, if desalination is not explored or put off, similar to the
situation in the1950s, this option will always remain costly and unwanted. But if
explored, the options for a more advanced and efficient method are most
definitely in the near future.

Conclusion: Looking Towards the Future

Californias drought conditions are only looking to worsen in the future and
there is a rise of warnings. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory senior water cycle
scientist, Jay Famiglietti, published a report in the Los Angeles Times warning
the state government that California only has approximately one year left of
water left in reservoirs and groundwater. 19 Famiglietti also writes, Today, not
tomorrow, is the time to begin. 20 Without further actions from the California
state government, the droughts complete lack of water will become
inevitable.
As a state, the state legislature can draw upon moments in Californias
history of droughts in order to gain a wider perspective on how to mollify
these circumstances. In a two year period of 1976 and 1977, the state
received low precipitation, so low that the rain level was ranked among the
top five lowest ever recorded in California.21 Forty-seven out of fifty-eight
counties in California declared a state of local drought emergency. 22 The end
of this historical drought is largely accredited to a water conservation
movement that promoted and encouraged residents to refrain from water
wasting routines like maintaining lawns, washing cars, and showers over five
minutes. 23 These efforts made by California residents may not be as effective
in the situation the state is in today requires more than individualistic
actions; but the mindset of that particular era is one California residents
should adopt now regarding this issue. If this mentality and attitude is
adopted towards the problem of a lack of water as well as the three large
projects of recycling water, government aid, and desalination, the drought in
California can end sooner than imagine and reservoirs, like Folsom Lake can
return their glory days.

Endnotes

"Folsom Lake State Recreation

Center." California Department of
Parks and Recreation. CA.gov, n.d.
Web. 4 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.parks.ca.gov/?
page_id=500>.
2

Greicius, Tony, ed. "Drought in

Folsom Lake, California." NASA. N.p.,
25 Feb. 2014. Web. 5 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/multimedia/c
alifornia-drought20140225/#.VSRG8jvF-5I>.
3

Luebehusen, Eric. "U.S Drought

Monitor California." United States
Drought Monitor. N.p., 2 Apr. 2015.
Web. 7 Apr. 2015.
<http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/
StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA>.
4

"Drought Information." California

Department of Water Sources. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 4 Apr.
2015.<http://www.water.ca.gov/waterc
onditions/droughtinfo.cfm>.
5

Simon, Evan. "California's Drought

Plan Mostly Lays Off Agriculture,Oil
Industries." ABC News. N.p., 6 Apr.
2015. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.
<http://abcnews.go.com/News/
californias-drought-plan-lays-offagriculture-oil-industries/story?
id=30087832>.
6

"Drought Impact Study:California

Agriculture Faces Greatest Water Loss
Ever Seen." UC Davis News. UC Davis,
15 July 2014. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.

<http://news.ucdavis.edu/search/
news_detail.lasso?id=10978>.
7

Poppick, Laura. "California Droughts

Could Have Dangerous Ripple Effects."
Live Science. N.p., 30 Dec. 2014. Web.
7 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.livescience.com/ 49287california-droughts-rippleeffects.html>.
8

Siders, David. "Jerry Brown Signs

Drought Relief Package." Capitol Alert.
Sacramento Bee, 27 Mar. 2015. Web. 7
Apr. 2015.
<http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics
-government/capitolalert/article16507031.html>.
9

Calefati, Jessica. "California Drought:

Gov. Jerry Brown, Legislative Leaders
Propose $1 Billion Package." San Jose
Mercury News. N.p., 19 Mar. 2015.
Web. 7 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.mercurynews.com/droug
ht/ci_27747922/california-drought-govjerry-brown-legislative-leaderspropose>.
10

Joyce, Ed. "California Drought:

Orange County 'Expands Toilet to Tap'
Water Recycling." KPCC. N.p., 6 Mar.
2014. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.scpr.org/news/2014/03/06
/42632/california-drought-orangecounty-taps-sewage-water/>.
11

Fleisher, Malkah. "UN:Israel #1 in

the World Leader in Water Recycling."
Israel National News. N.p., 23 Mar.

2009. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.

<http://www.israelnationalnews.com/N
ews/News.aspx/130565#.VSR2ojvF5I>.
12

Sangree, Hudson. "California Looking

to Recycled Water to Ease Drought
Concerns." The Sacramento Bee. N.p.,
14 Apr. 2014. Web. 5 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/ar
ticle2595660.html>.

18

Lee, Greg. "Carlsbad Desalination

Plant Helps Curb Water Demands."
ABC News. N.p., 28 Oct. 2014. Web. 9
Apr. 2015.
<http://abc7.com/science/carlsbaddesalination-plant-helps-curb-waterdemands/369579/>.
19

13

"Precision Agriculture." IBM

Research. IBM, n.d. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.research.ibm.com/articles
/precision_agriculture.shtml>.

"Drought-Stricken California Only

Has One Year Left, NASA Scientist
Warn." The Guardian. N.p., n.d. Web.
12 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.theguardian.com/usnews/2015/mar/16/california-waterdrought-nasa-warning>.

14

20

"Improve Water Efficiency."

WaterSmart. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Apr.
2015. <http://www.watersmart.com/
improve-water-use-efficiency/>.
15

Pierson, David. "California Farms

Lead the Way in Almond Production."
L.A Times. N.p., 12 Jan. 2014. Web. 5
Apr. 2015.
<http://www.latimes.com/business/lafi-california-almonds-20140112story.html>.
16

Rogers, Paul. "Nation's Largest

Ocean Desalination Plant Goes Up
Near San Diego; Future of the
California Coast?" San Jose Mercury
News. N.p., 29 May 2014. Web. 5 Apr.
2015.
<http://www.mercurynews.com/scienc
e/ci_25859513/nations-largest-oceandesalination-plant-goes-up-near?
source=infinite>.
17

Weiser, Matt. "Could Desalination

Solve California's Water Problem?" The
Sacramento Bee. N.p., 18 Oct. 2014.
Web. 9 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/c
alifornia/water-anddrought/article3017597.html

Schlanger, Zoe. "NASA: California

Has One Year Left of Water."
Newsweek. N.p., 13 Mar. 2015. Web.
12 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.newsweek.com/nasacalifornia-has-one-year-water-left313647>.
21

Swain, Daniel. "A Comparison of

Californias Extreme 2013 Dry Spell to
the 1976-1977 Drought."
Weather West. N.p., 22 Dec. 2013.
Web. 12 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.weatherwest.com/archive
s/
1038>.
22

Kotin, Adam, and Dru Marion. "A

History of Drought in California:
Learning From the Past, Looking to
the Future." Civil Eats. N.p., 5 Feb.
2014. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.
<http://civileats.com/2014/02/
05/a-history-of-drought-incalifornia-learning-from-the-pastlooking-to-the-future/>.
23

Rogers, Paul. "California Drought:

Past Dry Periods Have Lasted More
Than 200 Years, Scientists

10

Say." San Jose Mercury News. N.p.,

25 Jan. 2014. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.

california-drought-past-dry-periodshave-lasted-more>.

<http://www.mercurynews.com/scienc
e/ci_24993601/

11