1. Surface and Groundwater
Management in Times of
Drought
Michael J. Van Zandt, Partner
Hanson Bridgett LLP
425 Market Street, 26th
Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
415-995-5001 Direct Phone
mvanzandt@hansonbridgett.com
2. Drought
Defining drought is difficult because
of the word normal. In many areas,
normal conditions generally mean
conditions that do not deviate from
long-term averages. However,
using averages can mask extreme
high and low water years.
3. I. WHAT IS A DROUGHT?
A. National Drought Mitigation Center
definition: “Drought originates from a
deficiency of precipitation over an
extended period of time, resulting in a
water shortage for some activity, group, or
environmental sector.”
http://drought.unl.edu/droughtbasics/whatisdrought.aspx
4. B. California Department of Water
Resources definition:
a. “Defining when drought occurs is a function
of drought impacts to water users. Drought
can best be thought of as a condition of
water shortage for a particular user in a
particular location.”
California Department of Water Resources Drought Background
http://www.water.ca.gov/waterconditions/background.cfm.
5. C. What constitutes a drought is different
in different places.
Drought in Libya could occur when annual
rainfall is less than 180 mm, but in Bali,
drought might be considered to occur after
a period of only 6 days without rain!
National Drought Mitigation Center,
http://drought.unl.edu/DroughtBasics/WhatisDrought.aspx
6. “Water year” 2015 was hot, dry and fiery,
compounding the misery brought on by a
fourth year of drought.
The most recent US Drought Monitor, released
September 8, 2015, has 46% of the state
under the most extreme drought category (D4-
Exceptional Drought).
Every region in California is missing at least a
year’s worth of precipitation.
Climate.gov
https://www.climate.gov/news-features/event-tracker/how-deep-precipitation-hole-california
D. Drought in California
7. E. Drought in Nevada
Like California, most of Nevada’s water goes
to agriculture. DWR estimates 60% of the
state’s water goes to irrigating crops; 22%
goes to municipal water districts.
In early February of this year, the state water
engineer ordered a 50% reduction in the
amount of groundwater that can be pumped
for crops in some valleys, home to Nevada’s
biggest agricultural producers.
http://www.agweb.com/article/drought-prompts-disaster-declaration-for-
most-of-nevada-naa-associated-press
8. F. Drought in New Mexico
The statewide percent of normal precipitation for
January 2016 was 87%, 56 driest on record.
Reservoir storage is below capacity at all lakes
across the state, at only 29% of capacity as of
February 1, 2016.
There was above normal precipitation in 2015,
and a reduction in short term drought conditions,
but a long term hydrological drought is still very
much alive.
9. G. Drought in Colorado
As of June, 2015, a federal report shows
that after years of perpetual thirst in
southeastern Colorado, the region is no
longer in a drought.
Colorado classification from the National
Weather Service was reduced from
“extreme” to “abnormally dry”
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28345015/report-se-colorado-no-longer-drought-after-
years
10. Runoff Forecasts
Runoff occurs as the result of precipitation –
both rainfall & snowmelt – that is in excess of the
demands of evaporation.
Water Year 2015 produced the lowest snowpack
in the Sierra Nevada since records have been
kept.
The cumulative effect is a reduction in natural
runoff. As much as 75% of water supplies in the
western states are derived from snowmelt.
11. Drought Measures
California State Water Resources Control
Board enforcing priority of water rights.
Insufficient water for all water users then water
diversions curtailed in order of priority.
California has just ended its fourth consecutive
year of below average rainfall & snowpack and
Water Year (2015) was the eighth of nine years
with below average runoff.
12. II. Impacts of a Drought
A. Required Reductions in Urban Water Use:
Voluntary conservation
mandatory rationing
extensive education and outreach programs
to reduce urban water use.
13. On February 2, 2016, The State Water
Resources Control Board adopted an
Emergency Conservation Regulation that
will extend mandatory urban conservation
through October, 2016.
Data provided by the State Water
Resources Control Board Shows that from
June 2014 through December 2015,
Californians have cumulatively saved just
over 25%, or about 1.1 million acre-feet,
compared to 2013.
http://www.acwa.com/content/drought
15. B. Increased Groundwater Pumping:
Increased reliance on groundwater to
supply urban and agricultural water users.
Lowers groundwater levels in groundwater
basins.
Causes subsidence of land surface.
Department of Water Resources Drought FAQ,
http://www.water.ca.gov/drought/faq.cfm.
16. Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act
• Passed in 2014 to regulate groundwater.
• First of its kind in California.
• Local solutions and control.
• Identified High, Medium, Low priority
basins.
• Must have a Management Agency in
place by 2016.
• Groundwater management plan by 2020.
17. SGMA
• Basin wide adjudications streamlined.
• Physical solution to overdraft.
• Adjustment to boundaries,
hydrogeological, physical, political.
• Local control by local agencies.
• Can impose restrictions on pumping.
• Will have strict reporting and measuring.
18. C. Economic Impacts. Example -
Agricultural Communities.
Revenue loss, required crop changes,
income loss, employment loss, and land use
changes, depending on the extent to which
farmers can rely on groundwater pumping
as an alternative water supply.
Particularly noticeable in large agricultural
areas. http://www.water.ca.gov/drought/docs/drought_losses.pdf.
19. D. Fire. Increased fire danger.
Direct impact on vegetation, drought reduces
moisture in living trees and woody materials on
the ground.
Reduced moisture has a direct impact on the
ability for a fire to ignite.
Dry weather conditions set a stage for wild
land forest fires to occur outside of the fire
season.
Even if we get a little bit of rain, one dry,
sunny afternoon can zap the moisture out of
the vegetation.
20. III. Water Resource Solutions
A. California Department of Water
Resources Drought Assistance:
DWR offering grants or loans to assist with
water conservation, agricultural water
recycling, groundwater management, water
quality and supply, and studies and
activities to enhance local water supply
reliability. http://www.grantsloans.water.ca.gov/.
21. B. Transfers/ Water Market: Pursue a short or
long-term water transfer to augment supply.
Both temporary and permanent transfer
provisions exist in the California Water Code.
All types of transfers must not injure any
existing legal users of water, or harm fish and
wildlife.
Most transfers require CEQA compliance.
Other requirements based on type of transfer.
22. 2. DWR Drought Water Bank:
To help facilitate water transfers, DWR
has established a Drought Water Bank.
DWR will purchase water from willing
sellers primarily upstream of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and
make it available to water suppliers that
are experiencing water shortages due to
drought conditions.
23. a. DWR Drought Water Bank
Transfers exempt from CEQA – DWR
complies with CEQA for all transferors /
transferees in the program that year.
For this reason, proposal must be submitted
to DWR before the calendar year begins.
24. D. Recycled Water is Drought Proof! Water
Recycling is the treating and managing of
municipal, industrial, or agricultural wastewater
to produce water that can be productively
reused. Recycled water can satisfy most water
demands as long as it is adequately treated.
Prevents pollution and maximizes resources by
redirecting nutrient enriched treated wastewater
from discharging into streams and lakes and onto
beaches for other beneficial uses.
25. E. Conservation.
Local agencies spearheading public
awareness campaigns to encourage
water conservation.
Some imposing mandatory rationing.
(Examples above.)
Department of Water Resources website
gives 20 ways the public can help to
conserve.
http://www.water.ca.gov/drought/assist/save20-indoors.cfm.
26. Water recycling provides an additional
source of water that can be used for
beneficial purposes, such as agricultural
irrigation, landscape irrigation,
groundwater recharge, in industry, for
the environment and recreation, and as
indirect potable water.
http://www.owue.water.ca.gov/recycle/docs/WaterFact23.pdf
27. C. Conjunctive Use of Groundwater and
Surface Water
Conjunctive water use refers to simultaneous use of
surface water and groundwater.
Combining surface water and groundwater
minimizes the undesirable physical, environmental
and economical effects of each solution and
optimizes the water demand / supply balance.
Usually conjunctive use of surface and ground
water is considered within a river basin
management program (both the river and the
aquifer belong to the same basin).
http://www.fao.org/docrep/v5400e/v5400e0c.htm
28. Conjunctive use project issues:
Underground storage availability,
Production capacity of the aquifer(s) in terms
of potential discharge,
Natural recharge of the aquifer(s),
Comparative economic and environmental
benefits derived from the various possible
options.
29. Less water, higher prices
The price we pay for water is a small fraction of
what it actually costs to extract water, deliver it
to users and treat it after its use.
As scarcity increases, so does the cost of
supplying it from remote sources.
In Brazil and Ecuador, a small percentage of
water fees paid by city dwellers is used to
protect watersheds that supply their water. It is
extremely cost effective; healthy watersheds
produce clean water that requires less water
treatment. http://www.nature.org/tncscience/bigideas/people/art23907.html
30. Australia Drought Initiative
• Worst drought in history in 2009.
• Government worked to force conservation.
• Some cities conserved over 50% of water.
• Recycled water for irrigation.
• Electronic Billboards to motivate efforts.
• New reservoirs and pipelines.
• Desalination plants never used.
31. How Will We Know When The
Drought is Over?
“The drought could end this year, according to
state water officials. But for that to happen, as
California and Nevada enter the fifth year of the
worst drought in history, rains will have to
continue arriving in pounding, relentless waves
through April to fill depleted reservoirs and dry
rivers and push the Sierra snowpack to at least
150 percent of normal”
http://www.mercurynews.com/drought/ci_29364616/california-drought-how-will-we-know-when-its
