Drought Management and Its Impact on Public Water Systems Report on a Colloquium Sponsored by the Water Science and Technology Board (1986) / Chapter Skim
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3. What are Acceptable Risks for Public Systems?
3. What are Acceptable Risks for Public Systems?
Pages 49-64
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From page 49... ...
Determining an appropriate drought recurrence interval for water supply planning is extremely difficult due to the highly unpredictable nature of droughts. This discussion briefly describes some of the problems associated with this type of risk analysis and examines some practical drought management strategies in the context of past experiences and necessary future planning.
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From page 50... ...
works well: however the example above does not fit the typical urban situation, since most urban water users neither make an explicit annual decision on their needs for domestic water or water-using vegetation nor do they have the option of turning to individual wells. Also, while a contract system might work fine for a few hundred to a few thousand agricultural water users, it has some obvious limitations for an urban setting with hundreds of thousands of small customers.
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From page 51... ...
Southern California with its access to the giant Colorado River reservoirs at Lake Mead and Lake Powell was less hard hit than the normally wetter areas of Central and Northern California (interestingly, the Colorado River also experienced its driest year in recorded history in 1977~. As a result, Southern California was able to give up substantial quantities of its contracted rights to water from the State Water Project to assist the San Francisco Bay area (approximately 40 billion gallons)
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From page 52... ...
However, other urban water customers throughout California also enthusiastically cut their water use as can be seen on Table 3-2. Public opinion polls in water-short areas during 1977 determined that city dwellers had substantial sympathy for the plight of the farmers and frequently stated the opinion that the urban water user could more easily conserve than the farmers.
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From page 55... ...
by lining canals and reducing water losses. The conserved water would be made available to urban Southern California, which would reimburse Imperial $10 million annually to develop the conservation programs.
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From page 56... ...
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From page 57... ...
The extreme difficulty of achieving a statewide consensus on water development in the face of continued population and economic growth, together with the future loss to Arizona of more water than is used by the City of Los Angeles, raises the specter of more frequent drought shortages in the years ahead. There is little question that all aspects of drought management will get increasing attention from water professionals, environmental organizations, and government leaders, but how the decision-making will take place is difficult to forecast.
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From page 58... ...
_' . ~ -- ~-~:~ os A~ FIGURE 3-1 California water transfer facilities.
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From page 59... ...
Other options require the exercise of police powers, which are available to local general government, but which are usually not available to the local water utility board. URBAN AND AGRICULTURAL COMPETITION AND COOPERATION Following the drought of 1977, there developed some support for the notion that urban water users are more able to conserve than farmers and perhaps contractual provisions which require agriculture to take the first shortages should be reversed to require urban users to accept initial shortages.
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From page 60... ...
By early November 1977, when heavy statewide precipitation mercifully arrived, most urban water customers and public officials were growing weary of the problems and nuisances of living with the water shortage. For example, in the City of Los Angeles, which had implemented water rationing for the first time in the 75-year history of the municipal water system, 85 percent of the water customers were meeting their water conservation goals; however, this still left approximately 100,000 different residential, commercial, and industrial customers who were in violation.
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From page 61... ...
For example, water agencies in New Jersey experienced substantial public backlash a few years ago when financial penalties imposed during the drought on a number of large customers were waived upon easing of the drought. WATER AGENCY RESPONSIBILITY If the public feels that water agencies are managing water supplies responsibly and efficiently, they will be more likely to support proposed conservation measures in emergency situations.
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From page 62... ...
It is likely that the events of 1977 would receive considerable attention when a water shortage within the MWD service area occurs at some future time. This issue remains a matter of considerable interest in both Los Angeles and San Diego, since Los Angeles continues to pay property taxes that are approximately $19 million per year, and San Diego only pays $10 million.
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From page 63... ...
The same is true for a statewide water curtailment program. Although the state legislature has adequate police power, the water supply issues become almost hopelessly complicated with thousands of different water purveyors with vastly different circumstances and involving both agriculture and urban water supplies.
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From page 64... ...
Perhaps, the best that can be achieved is for the water managers to be familiar with the variety of strategies that succeeded and those that failed for implementation of appropriate ones on an ad hoc basis during future water shortages. As crises occur, drought management will continue to improve as we build upon past experiences.
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