New MWD policy could be revolutionary

OPINION – The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California recently adopted what could be a revolutionary policy. Metropolitan’s new Climate Adaptation Master Plan for Water will “provide the roadmap that will guide [the agency’s] future capital investments” in this era of climate extremes, potentially upending how we have managed water since William Mulholland famously extorted, “There it is, Take it!” in 1913.

Metropolitan is the water wholesaler for 19 million Southern Californians. It’s the 800-pound gorilla in any project that transports water long distances to power the showers, water the lawns, and fill the drinking glasses of residents from the Mexican border north to Ventura County. The agency was formed in 1928 to import water from the Colorado River to support growing southern California communities, later expanding to bring in even more water from Northern California through the State Water Project.

Today, Metropolitan is the State Water Project’s biggest customer. It holds tremendous power in any major investment that would enable more water to flow from Northern California to the southland. That includes the beleaguered Delta Conveyance Project and the controversial Sites Reservoir.

These two projects have a lot in common. They would be incredibly expensive to build. They would further decimate the fragile Delta ecosystem and crush the possibility of salmon stocks recovering. And they are rooted in 20^th Century thinking that downplays the risks of future climate extremes.

Metropolitan’s leaders must look closer to home for the majority of our water supplies to create a resilient future. Redirecting most of the agency’s investments into local infrastructure is simple common sense.

Moving water from far-flung places to Southern California communities takes a lot of energy. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, the state’s “water system uses approximately 20% of the state’s electricity and 30% of its natural gas for business and home use, according to data from 2001—accounting for more than 5% of California’s greenhouse gas emissions.” While water transport is only part of this total, it nevertheless defies logic to keep pumping water over hundreds of miles if we are serious about addressing climate change.

As noted in this article by Pacific Institute researchers, “Urban water conservation and efficiency measures offer significant water savings and are often the most cost-effective ways to meet current and future water needs.” To keep water affordable, Metropolitan should prioritize converting lawns into California-friendly gardens through incentives and direct install programs, along with other conservation programs. Dollar for dollar, an acre-foot conserved is significantly less expensive than piping new water to households. By using less, urban users would have a lower demand for water that could be better used for growing food and supporting wildlife.

Unlike infrastructure projects intended to move water long distances, wastewater recycling, stormwater capture, and cleaning up polluted groundwater all come with important co-benefits, like reducing pollution from runoff and sewage along our coastline, creating greener and healthier communities, and lowering flood risk.

Generating more water locally will also cost a lot of money. But the environmentally damaging and budget busting Delta Conveyance and Sites Reservoir projects would cost far more. There is no guarantee that those projects will produce more water to send south as precipitation patterns become more erratic. If a major earthquake or other natural disaster strikes, it could disrupt water transport for months or even years, leaving Southern California high and dry.

Metropolitan’s Climate Adaptation Plan provides a lens through which to consider how to spend precious ratepayer dollars. Now is the time for water leaders to make hard choices to ensure our supplies are as reliable and affordable as possible. It’s imperative the agency’s leaders avoid sunk cost fallacies or old ways of thinking. A fast and significant pivot to investing in local water supplies is the most reliable and sustainable option for meeting this moment; the framework just approved by Metropolitan will prove that point.

Bruce Reznik is executive director of Los Angeles Waterkeeper.