Water in California

by Mayor Pro Tem Fred Strong, City of El Paso de Robles, Candidate for the 33rd Assembly District seat

The length restrictions on this article prevent any comprehensive presentation of water issues. Many basic educational water documents can be found here. They all contain important information.

“Water Rights: Issues and Perspectives” is basic to understanding the sources from which we get delivery of water for our use.

“California’s Water: An LAO Primer” explains where it is located and how we use it and pay for it. Not all of it is available to us due to legal claims, water quality, and infrastructure. In California, water is precious and wasting water is illegal.

Our use of water always changes it. Once we use it we are responsible for what’s in it. If we’ve made it “bad” we must alter it to where it’s not harmful. Treatment of the water costs money.

Failure to acquire water legally, treat it appropriately or dispose of it properly subjects us to fines and penalties by the state.

These are the issues we must deal with at all times no matter what else concerns us about water.

In California, having enough is most important. We lack sufficient capture and storage to meet current needs, much less future needs. Much of our present water has been “borrowed” from its legal owners and now they need it or want it. We have to find other water.

According to a study released this year, urban areas use 11% of all available water, agriculture uses 41% and the rest (48%) goes for environmental uses. Another problem is that over 75% of annual rainfall occurs in the Northern part of the state but over 75% of the water use occurs in the Southern part of the state. Transporting that water is costly.

Current thought is that conservation and new water projects are necessary to sustain California, regardless of cost. We need reclamation, storage, desalination and additional capture. We already have many plans, policies and laws in effect but more are in process for all of these things. They will be a dominant part of our political life for decades to come. Conflicts over priorities and necessities regarding health and safety issues threaten our basic rights and traditional methods of governance. This problem and opportunity is just emerging and will haunt us for a long time.

Fred Strong has been political since his teens at every level of government in America.

He has had leadership roles in the areas of revenue and taxation, transportation, employment, housing, blight elimination, economic strategies and development, sales and use tax reform, agribusiness, natural resources, health and safety, civil rights and energy efficiency.

He has served on local, regional, state and national political groups. He is the Mayor Pro Tem of Paso Robles and currently serves on numerous regional and statewide policy bodies. His research library and institutional memory in Sacramento goes back 40 years.

For a more detailed biography, click here.