Last updated on 2023-04-11
Aaron Smith, a professor at UC Davis, just published an analysis of who eats the food and uses the crops grown in California.
This is worth reading and thinking about when considering potential solutions to the continuing megadrought in California and the probable future of less reliable water supply for the region and state.
It sure appears that California will be forced to reduce agricultural use to stop over-drafting the groundwater in the central valley and in wine-growing regions. The extent of the reduction is the question. If there is a substantial reduction in ag use, and savings in urban use through reclamation, demand reduction and system upgrades (fixing leaks), then the governor’s recently issued plan will likely be sufficient for the immediate future – providing more storage of non-snow precipitation and structural changes that help secure the future.
But recharging the groundwater – the goal of the 2014 Jerry Brown legislation will be elusive without massive changes to the water use and crop choices of the central valley produces. That transition will likely be very painful and will also produce winners and losers. Time will tell how that will play politically.
I am thinking about these issues as I am drafting my overview of water in California – just trying to determine if California and the South Coast water region will be a viable place to live in the coming decades, considering the likely changes in climate will continue in the la nina / drier pattern as with the historical, regional megadroughts.