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“During the dry years, the people forgot about the rich years, and when the wet years returned, they lost all memory of the dry years. It was always that way.”
Sadly, nothing much has changed in California and the Salinas Valley since 1952, when John Steinbeck wrote those words for the opening chapters of his novel, “East of Eden.”
As a result, the atmospheric rivers drenching the state have been a decidedly mixed blessing.
The rainfall means for the first time in more than two years, the majority of California is no longer in a severe drought. The Sierra snowpack is at 226% of average for this time of year, the largest we’ve seen in more than two decades. Reservoirs are filling at a rapid rate. If the rains continue, it might be possible for Gov. Gavin Newsom to lift the state’s voluntary water restrictions and even consider declaring an end to the drought. That’s the good news.
Then there’s the bad news, starting of course with the deaths of 17 Californians, the forced evacuation of entire communities and the flooding and mudslides that damaged countless roads, bridges, homes and businesses.
Beyond the immediate devastation is the temptation to think the onslaught of storms has ended the drought — that we can return to our old, bad habits such as greening up lawns, taking long showers and slowing water-conservation efforts. Nothing could be further from the truth.
No rain is in the forecast after Monday. We need to remember that California had a series of major storms in December 2021 only to experience an extended dry period in January, February and March.
Even if we do get enough rain this year to end the drought, it doesn’t change the fact that climate change is exacerbating an ongoing water crisis that should rank as one of the state’s highest priorities. And that California isn’t doing nearly enough to ensure the state can meet its future residential, business and agricultural water needs.
In November 2014, voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 1, believing the $7.5 billion bond measure would significantly upgrade water-storage efforts. Building water storage is admittedly a complex, lengthy process. But of the four Northern California storage projects identified by the state in 2018 for funding, only two — the Los Vaqueros Reservoir expansion and the Harvest Water Program — should definitely continue moving forward. Of the other two, the Pacheco Dam project simply doesn’t pencil out, and Sites Reservoir remains highly questionable.
Los Vaqueros is far and away the best project. The Contra Costa Water District would raise the height of the dam in eastern Contra Costa County by 55 feet to 273 feet. That would expand the reservoir’s capacity from 160,000 acre-feet to 275,000, providing enough water when full for the annual needs of 1.4 million people in the Bay Area. The expansion is scheduled to be completed by 2030.
The Harvest Water Program, formerly known as the South County Ag Program, is a recycling project that would provide 50,000 acre-feet of recycled waste water a year to farmers for irrigation, reducing groundwater pumping in Sacramento County.
The Pacheco Dam project had merit until the price tag nearly doubled a year ago to $2.5 billion. The project called for a 319-foot dam to be built north of Highway 152 near Henry Coe State Park, east of Morgan Hill. It would hold up to 144,000 acre-feet of water, replacing the current earthen dam that holds only 5,500 acre-feet of water.
Building Pacheco would cost $18,800 per acre-foot of water. Compare that to the cost of $8,300 per acre-foot of water of raising the height of Los Vaqueros. There are cheaper ways of storing water, including, for example, constructing new groundwater storage banks in the Central Valley.
Planners in 2020 scaled back the cost and size of the Sites Reservoir project in the west side of the Sacramento Valley amid questions about its environmental suitability, how much water it would actually deliver and who would fund it. Those questions still exist.
California needs to face up to the fact that most of the best sites for dams are already taken and seek other means for storing water.
As Steinbeck would remind us, there is a price to be paid for ignoring our water challenges.
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