Saving Water is not Saving California

As a resident of thirsty Southern California, it’s a good bet that over the past 20 years you’ve changed your lifestyle to conserve water, all with the intention of protecting the environment, saving money, and – perhaps most importantly – securing a healthy future for your children and generations to come.
But guess what? You’ve saved water, but your efforts to save Southern California have failed. The water you’ve diligently conserved has not been channeled back to its upstream sources. Instead, it’s been funneled to new development with little regard for the environment.
Jeff Kightlinger, General Manager of the Metropolitan Water District (MWD), says “We’re creating the equivalent of a new river with conservation…” And Bob Muir, MWD’s senior spokesperson, states “we will capture enough water for 5 million new Californians in the next 20 years.”
MWD is Southern California’s water wholesaler and within their service area, which covers 6 counties and about 18.5 million people, water use per capita has fallen from 219 gallons a day in 1989 to 183 in 2003. Long Beach Water Department proudly boasts that they are one of the most frugal cities in the nation, using a mere 121 gallons per capita. Irvine Ranch Water District proclaims that “we are doing twice as much (as before) with the same amount of imported water.”
Most of the water saved in Southern California flows back to MWD, because importing their water is more expensive for water retailers than harvesting local supplies. All told, MWD is expecting to free 900,000 acre feet of water a year, which is a tremendous amount; one acre foot is enough to meet the needs of two families of four for a year.
The California Native Plant Society, Sierra Club and Surfrider Foundation say that water conservation trims carbon outputs (improving air quality), reduces runoff, saves money, and importantly, protects those ecologically diverse environments where our water comes from.
Yet since 1990, when the new river of conservation began to rise, there have been no widespread, measurable ecological benefits. Instead, our environment (ocean, air, land), personal health, and even our pocket books have been seriously eroded – all due to the surging population buoyed by the rising tide of conservation.
Southern California has added 3.375 million new residents since 1990, and the California Association of Governments reports that we grow by about 300,000 people a year. This urbanization has had a measurable and widespread impact.
The levels of storm water runoff have increased to a point where it is now being blamed for thousands of marine mammal deaths and a 54% leap in respiratory related ailments with ocean swimmers. In May (2007) Southland air quality officials asked the President and Governor to declare a state of emergency in response to the 5.400 premature deaths and 980,000 lost work days due to poor air quality. And according to the State of California’s Division of Land Resource Protection, between 1992- 2004 MWD’s six counties paved approximately 179,644 acres of farmland, grazing range, and natural habitat.
And finally, and most surprisingly, saving water has not saved us money. Wholesale water costs have soared 256% between 1980 and 2003, while inflation only increased by 123% and gasoline by 129%. According to Tim Blair, a spokesperson for MWD, this enormous increase is due, in part, to developing the infrastructure needed for the swelling population.
The water Southern Californians save goes to emerging communities and new development – not the environment. MWD does not voluntarily push the water back to its natural, upstream source.
Southern Californians that have saved water for environmental reasons must now demand that our water truly goes to the environment – that it is used for smarter and denser growth; that it gets sent to urban ecosystems and public parks; that it is used to preserve and support urban agriculture; or at the very least, that our water gets sent back to its natural source.
Water conservation seems intuitively natural, and maybe it can have all the benefits promoted by environmentalists, but the direction in which the savings flow must change. Until that happens, however, saving water is not saving California’s environment.
If you would like to work on these water issues, contact Maddalena Serra at Maddalena.Serra@sierraclub.org or at 213-387- 4287, x 210.

Douglas Kent is an environmental/garden writer and his latest book, CPR: Creating Gardens and Properties that Breathe Life into the Nation’s Waterways, will be out in summer 2008.