Changing Demands and Water Supply Uncertainty in California

Since becoming a state in 1850, California has experienced natural drought multiple times. These drought periods and the need to provide water to a rapidly growing population and farms led to an innovative and complex water storage and delivery system. Since northern California contains over two-thirds of the water resources and southern California has two-thirds of the human population, the federal government, through the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), and the State of California (State) built the Central Valley Project (CVP) and the State Water Project (SWP), respectively, to store and convey water. Much of California experienced severe to exceptional drought over the last four years. As a result, California Governor Jerry Brown issued a drought emergency in 2014 and a first-ever executive order in April 2015 requiring the State Water Resources Control board to implement reductions in cities and towns as a means to cut water use by 25 percent. Water cutbacks in 2015 had major impacts on most parts of California. Such water shortages helped cause the City of Mendota, a community heavily dependent on irrigated agriculture and the jobs associated with it, to experience 34% unemployment. In addition, lack of surface water storage prompted many to tap groundwater reserves for water needs. In a few areas, this pumping has caused ground subsidence as a result of decreased aquifer levels. Although various estimates on the drought's impact in 2015 are still being calculated, some found that it was devastating - particularly to California agriculture.