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ACWA comments on Pacific Institute Report regarding ag water use

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 9, 2008 at 9:42 am

From Market Watch, this press release from ACWA:

Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) Executive Director Timothy Quinn issued the following statement regarding a new Pacific Institute report on agricultural water use efficiency.
“We agree that California must invest in water use efficiency in all sectors and at every level. It is imperative for our future. But this latest report from Pacific Institute does not offer practical approaches to achieve increased water use efficiency. Further, the report sidesteps the most pressing issue before us — how to improve the sustainability of our water supply infrastructure so it can work for the environment as well as our economy.

California must find workable ways to significantly increase our investments in water use efficiency and local resource development. But the command-and-control, heavy-handed regulatory approach to dictating water use decisions suggested in the report has little chance to succeed. The Delta’s downward spiral will not be solved by mandating farmers to produce certain crops instead of others. Crop decisions are based on real-world market demands, not academic studies. Growers have a long record of responding to price signals, and they will continue to do so without the specter of water rights proceedings or other command-and-control approaches. Replacing reliance on market forces to make these decisions with centralized regulation is simply a bad idea.

The Pacific Institute report completely ignores some of the most pressing problems facing California resource managers. ACWA believes the best way to restore the Delta while keeping our economy intact is to modernize our water storage and conveyance system as part of a comprehensive solution that invests in every water management tool at our disposal, including water use efficiency. Two important public processes now under way — the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force and the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan — have concluded that the current physical system for storing and conveying water does not work for the environment or the economy. Does California need to do more to improve water use efficiency? Absolutely. But it also needs to fix an ailing water system that poses a direct threat to our environment and our economy.”

ACWA is a statewide association of public agencies whose 450 members are responsible for about 90% of the water delivered in California. For more information, visit www.acwa.com.

September 9, 2008 · Filed Under Agriculture, Conservation

Comments

2 Responses to “ACWA comments on Pacific Institute Report regarding ag water use”

  1. Dr. Juliet Christian-Smith on September 10th, 2008 11:30 am

    Dams and new infrastructure are clearly not the only solutions to California’s complex water problems, as the current crisis in our Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta demonstrates. There are many options to create a more sustainable water system, and the new Pacific Institute report addresses just one of them: improving the water conservation and efficiency of California agriculture.

    This report marks the first attempt to quantify the water savings associated with increased agricultural water conservation and efficiency. We do not indicate that the improvements included in the report are the only possible solutions; however, they amount to big savings (equivalent to 3-20 dams) and are often overlooked in statewide policy debates. Thus, we argue that conservation and efficiency are important tools, alongside new infrastructure, desalination, recycled water, and many others in our state’s water policy toolbox. California’s water problems are diverse, and thus our responses also need to be diverse. Critics who want to paint the issue as black or white – pro-dam or anti-dam – are creating a specious debate that is not productive in terms of finding tenable solutions to serious problems.

    Contrary to what has been suggested here, we do not support a “heavy-handed regulatory approach.” Rather our report discusses financial incentives, educational programs, regulatory approaches, and a wide range of other tools that comprise a comprehensive portfolio of solutions to capture these potential water savings. For example, we recommend a series of financial incentives to help defray investment costs in efficient irrigation systems, which can be significant barrier to implementation. We recommend greater funding for education and technical assistance programs through Cooperative Extension and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, among others, which facilitate the adoption of advanced management practices. We also recommend that the state invest in more precise data collection and dissemination to provide farmers with more specific information to guide their irrigation scheduling.

    Finally, we take the issue of the sustainability of California’s water system head on, addressing the major problem identified by scientific studies, judges, and the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force – that we are simply taking too much water from the Delta.

  2. Going through withdrawals: Why less could soon be more California farmers | Circle of Blue | WaterNews on September 16th, 2008 1:20 pm

    [...] in the form of dams, should not be the only answer either, the report maintains. According to Dr. Juliet Christian-Smith, Pacific Institute senior researcher and study author, “this report marks the first attempt [...]

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