Drought Measures - What?

We are currently in a drought watch. That means that we need to use less water in a variety of ways. It does not mean that the water police will spy on you.

Now that we have invested in the infrastructure necessary to obtain and store water from multiple sources - sources which may be thousands of miles apart in entirely different weather systems - droughts do not effect us that season. What happens is that number crunchers review our water use, our water allotment, and such environmental data as snow pack and reservoir levels to provide us with 99% certainty that we will always be able to turn on the tap.

Encouraging customers to voluntarily reduce their water use is the preferred way to balance our use with our allotment. Other ways are through fines, increasing fees, providing rebates for the purchase of water conserving equipment and putting our limited resources into a market based system in which people can profit by using less water.

Check out more tips for positive ways that you can prosper during this drought at the Escondido City Utilities Department Water Conservation Page.

Drought Measures - Why?

In a previous post, the "who" of the drought was highlighted using one lawsuit as an example. However, the lawsuit described is only the most recent of many lawsuits directed towards redistributing the flow of publicly funded water projects and restoring native fish habitats. Even if the litigants, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Secretary of the Interior (Kempthorne), were not involved in a plan to restrict water flowing to Escondido through the Central Valley Project, there would still be a problem obtaining enough water.

The San Diego County Water Authority estimates that between 75% and 95% of our water needs to be imported due to our arid climate, dense population, and intensive agriculture. In order to secure the importation of our water, we purchase water rights and develop infrastructure, but in the case of a drought or environmental disaster in that distant location, our aqueducts may run far under capacity.

As for droughts, the current forecast for the Central Valley water supply is running 80% of average in the north bound San Joaquin River and 70% of average in the south bound Sacramento River. The long standing drought in the Upper Colorado Basin has recently broken, however, the reservoirs on the Colorado River are at about half of capacity. A very good site to check on the current conditions is the Drought Monitor of the National Drought Mitigation Center of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

The recent success of NRDC v. Kempthorne came after the defeat of Defenders of Wildlife v. (Secretary of the Interior) Norton, an attempt by environmentalists to protect endangered species in the Gulf of Mexico. In March of 2003, a federal court found that (1) the Dept. of the Interior (DOI) cannot control whether water reaches the Colorado River Delta, and (2) under the terms of the Treaty of 1944 and the Law of the River, the DOI has no discretion to release additional water to Mexico.

Additional lawsuits pertaining to the Colorado River habitat are bound to make their way through the courts, however, perhaps closing the desalination plant in Yuma or the emptying of the newly concrete lined All-American Canal. It may only be a matter of time.

Drought Measures

As the City of Escondido will soon suffer a water shortage, Escondidans - who have this month enjoyed over three inches of rain - should be interested in the whys, whos, and wherefores of the upcoming "drought." This entry will provide the who's.

Federal District Court Judge Oliver W. Wanger of the Eastern District of California ruled in Natural Resources Defense Council v. Dirk Kempthorne that the Central Valley Project had to increase the fresh water it allowed to flow into the Delta and out to sea to flush the ecosystem and improve the health of several endangered fish species, most notably the indicator species called the Delta Smelt. Judge Wagner was born in L.A. in 1940, graduated from USC and then UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law in 1966. He helped found San Joaquin College of Law in Fresno in 1969 and held a variety of legal posts from then until 1991 when he was appointed to this judicial seat. In another controversial case in 2008, he ruled that the City of Fresno owed 225 homeless citizens 2.35 million dollars for the destruction of their property during several city clean up campaigns (over $10,000 per person). Fresno Mayor Alan Autry was not happy with the agreement, complained to the press in a written statement, and Wagner ordered him to appear in court to defend his words.

Natural Resources Defense Council founded in 1970 employs more than 300 people, mainly lawyers and lobbyists, who "strive to help create a new way of life for humankind, one that can be sustained indefinitely without fouling or depleting the resources that support all life on Earth." Doug Obegi is the staff attorney on the Western Water Project for NRDC. Born in Orange County, he graduated from UC Hastings College of the Law in 2006. Prior to working for NRDC he worked for the Ocean Conservancy as a policy analyst. Obegi's explanation for the importance of this action is contained in his paper titled Fish Out of Water.

Dirk Kempthorne, was the United States Secretary of the Interior from 2006 to 2009. Born in San Diego, he moved to Idaho where he was elected both Senator and Governor of the state. As Interior Secretary, he was awarded the 2007 Rubber Dodo Award for not placing a single plant or animal on the federal endangered species list during his administration up to that time - 472 days. The previous record was for 376 days between 1981 and 1982.