SACRAMENTO — An unusually wet winter has provided Californians with relief from the dry conditions that have led to fallowed farms and water rationing. From the snowpacked Sierra to swollen rivers and streams, many once-dry statewide reservoirs are nearing capacity. Most of the state no longer is facing a severe or extreme drought.
While catastrophic floods have swept through our local communities, and have disrupted our lives, the state can rest assured that there’s plenty of water for the time being. Unfortunately, California policymakers have a tendency to rely on Mother Nature rather than plan ahead to assure that we store enough water in wet times to get us through the dry ones. That’s why I’ve led efforts to invest in long-neglected water infrastructure.
Creating a sustainable water future, however, involves a variety of approaches. When he introduced his Water Resilience Portfolio last summer, Gov. Gavin Newsom touted a long-term policy that calls for investing in infrastructure, building desalination plants, recycling water and conservation. California does need to use every tool available to address a problem that erodes our economy, the world’s most productive agricultural region, and our quality of life.
One often-overlooked approach involves water trading. The Public Policy Institute of California explains that water trading (via sale or lease of water rights) reduces “the economic impact of shortages during droughts by shifting water to activities and places where the lack of water will be more costly.” It helps deal with “geographic shifts in water demand as the economy changes and the population grows.”
Trading should be a quick way to provide water to the farms or cities that need it. It even provides a way to divert excess water to environmental restoration. We all know that markets are more efficient than government regulation in allocating scarce resources. California does allow water trading, but — and no surprise here — our regulatory framework is so time-consuming that it reduces water trades to trickle.
California’s Department of Water Resources publishes an insanely lengthy document detailing that cumbersome process as well as a water-trading “decision tree” that is almost impossible to navigate. I’d love to see that process streamlined, but it’s not clear how to cut through all that red tape. That’s why I’ve authored Senate Bill 550.
The bill finds “voluntary water transfers between water users can result in a more efficient use of water, benefiting both the buyer and the seller.” It also benefits the public. SB 550 simply calls for the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, in consultation with appropriate agencies, to issue a report to identify market barriers to trading and provide a blueprint for streamlining.
If the Legislature is serious about addressing our long-term water needs, it shouldn’t wait until Californians are once again facing grueling water shortages. Energizing the water market is only one small part of the solution, but every drop counts.
Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, represents California’s 12th Senate District.
