Candidate for
Member, Board of Directors; Alameda County Flood Control and Water Conservation District; Zone 7

"Engineered water management was an aid to building a large society in the West during what is now understood to have been a century of benign, moderately wet times... But all of this advanced engineering cannot stop droughts from happening... We must keep in mind that the West has been plagued by droughts lasting not just years, or even decades, but more than a century. If decade- or century-long dryness revisits the region, modern society will be hard-pressed to survive without significant changes in the way we live."

B. LYNN INGRAM, The West Without Water (2013, University of California Press)

California's perpetual water crisis is a direct result of a broken 20th century water rights allocation scheme that does not provide enough water for all claimants except in wet years. The problem Dr. Ingram points out is that California in the 20th century was wetter than the climate record indicates was typical over the past 1,300 years. Droughts lasting decades or even centuries are common to California's climate. California was entirely in drought conditions during the Medieval megadrought from 900 to 1100 AD and 1200 to 1350 AD. Those extended drought conditions caused the collapse of the indigenous Anasazi civilization. Our population is continuing to grow and we are using all available water. Policy makers need to seriously prepare for a warmer and drier future.

Our present drought conditions indicate how precarious our water supply is. Without snow melt delivered through the state water project the Livermore Valley basically relies on it's groundwater basin, which is severely depleted to nearly the lowest historic levels. Rather than conservation being an emergency measure in times of drought, we need to adopt ongoing conservation measures that not only result in recharge of our groundwater, but also reduces as much as possible the amount of water the Livermore Valley draws from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

It is often said, and I have even mentioned this myself, that the Livermore Valley is the same as Southern California when it comes to water, but this is not true. The Delta is in our backyard. The recreation, infrastructure, and commercial activities that take place in the Delta effect our regional economy and quality of life.

There is another difference between the Livermore Valley and our neighbors to the south. Los Angeles has increased in population over the last 20 years while at the same time uses overall less water than that city did 20 years ago. The Santa Clara Water District, a district sharing the South Bay Aquaduct with Zone 7, has kept water consumption relatively flat since 1992 despite a 25% population increase. The population within Zone 7's jurisdiction has increased 65% from 1990 to 2009 and water consumption increased in step with a 66% increase in potable water demand and a 69% increase in overall water demand over the same 20-year period. These numbers indicate lost opportunities for joining our neighbors in implementing sustainable water conservation strategies to better prepare for drought conditions and to do our part in reducing demand for destructive Delta water diversions.

No new information has ever contradicted a 1992 State Water Board draft finding that maximum Delta pumping in wet years should not exceed 2.65 million acre-feet in order to provide the necessary outflows to protect fish and the Bay-Delta ecosystems. Yet 7 million acre-feet is typically pumped out of the Delta during wet years. It is irresponsible to believe that a tunnel diverting the same amount of water (or even more) from the Delta will counter dire diagnosis of the Delta's health. We need to reduce demand plane and simple.

That calls attention to another major problem with the Delta tunnel plan: Money. Over the life of the bonds Delta tunnels and related habitat plans are projected to cost more than $60 billion dollars. If water demand in Zone 7's jurisprudent is reduced, resulting in lower revenue, where is the money to come from if all the oxygen is sucked out of the room by the Delta tunnels plan? We need to provide financial incentives for residents and businesses to convert to drought tolerant landscaping, rainwater capture systems, greywater systems such as laundry to landscaping, and refurbished sewer systems designed to handle reduced water flows as a result of indoor water conservation measures.

Water reuse treatment and double-piping for landscaping and toilets also increases costs for water users. The state should step in to provide financial assistance in the interest of public safety preparing for inevitable droughts; money that would instead go to servicing a huge debt for the Delta tunnels.

It is clear that the Delta's health can be restored and protected against salinity increases by reducing Delta water diversions. Zone 7 should plan policies and strategies in anticipation of extended drought and promote ongoing strategic conservation that enables delivery of a consistent sustainable water supply, importing water only to the extent of recharging our groundwater basin and other storage. The State government should be lobbied to provide additional financial support and incentives to assist our residents and businesses to convert to ongoing conservation and to make up for lost water revenue as a result of reduced demand.

Preserving the integrity of our groundwater basin is Zone 7's number one priority. Zone 7 was formed after a period in history where San Francisco bought up vast surrounding acreage in the region to drill wells for water. Past political leaders in the Livermore Valley could see that as a less-populated piece of Alameda County the groundwater here could be co-opted to supply west county development "over the hill" rather than act as a secure, stable water supply here in eastern Alameda county. Zone 7 was created as an independent board to protect Livermore Valley groundwater. Current efforts to formalize Zone 7 as an independent multi-county agency where Contra Costa developers during drought could tap into Livermore Valley's groundwater should absolutely be resisted as against Zone 7's mission and contrary to the interests of the residents of eastern Alameda County.

These considerations above are difficult and complex political equations that go against "business as usual" participation in efforts to secure unreliable water rights from an unsustainable water allocation scheme. As your representative on Zone 7's board I will instead promote ongoing conservation and reuse strategies that result in a sustainable water supply plan based on inevitable long periods of drought as well as lobby for state financial support to fund these strategies.