Item 07 - Response to OC Grand Jury Report_ Historic Rain, Yet Drought

Home Browse Search

HISTORIC RAIN, YET DROUGHT REMAINS ORANGE COUNTY GRAND JURY 2022 I 2023 Page 16 of 57 to climate change. An important part of the DCP is a proposed tunnel under the Delta. The concept for the project originated in the 1970s and subsequent versions included the Trans-Delta System, Peripheral Canal, Bay Delta Conservation Plan, and the California Water Fix (a dual tunnel). The Delta Conveyance Project faces strong opposition from environmentalists. The prospect of the project being completed in a timely manner, if at all, is doubtful. Governor Newsom himself noted the difficulty of getting water projects going in his statement at an August 2022 news conference: “The time to get these damn projects is ridiculous,” Newsom said. “It’s absurd. It’s reasonably comedic. In so many ways, the world we invented from an environmental perspective is now getting in the way of moving these projects forward.”8 Projects take decades to accomplish, if they are completed at all. The State cannot be relied upon for consistent water delivery in wet or dry years. Water management in California can best be summed up as always studied but never resolved. The impacts of this paralysis mean that Orange County cannot currently rely on the State to identify or secure a new source or supplies of water. Federal Intervention California may have to reduce its reliance on Colorado river water under a proposal by the U.S. Department of the Interior, unveiled on April 11, 2023, that upends the longstanding system of water rights. The Department proposed two methods for reducing water usage by as much as 25% in 2024. The seven states utilizing the Colorado river have been negotiating with each other since August 2022 to make voluntary cuts. To date no agreement has been reached. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, warned that it would impose large cuts if the states relying on the river did not come up with a plan by January 31, 2023. The states failed to do so. Although California has experienced an unusually wet winter, this has not changed the Colorado River’s longstanding challenges amid a much drier climate. The rationing of water from the Colorado River basin appears inevitable at the time of this report, disrupting the long-tenured stability of Southern California’s imported water supply. It reinforces the idea that the time to act for securing a new source of water for Orange County is now. Water Justice As the demand for water increases, not only to sustain the status quo but also for development, equal access to water must also be addressed. What regions will be entitled to preserve their way of life and what regions will have to compromise? The cost of obtaining and distributing water is equally important to water justice. The projects required to ensure a reliable water supply are costly and, if delegated to the ratepayers, may have a significant impact on lower income households. Traditionally,