Editorial: Drought is over, but state sets Sites on storage

It’s been a rough winter in the Midwest, South and East, but in California we’ve been the beneficiaries of something the state has long needed: extended, steady rain to fill our reservoirs and create a deep snowpack in the Sierras. The U.S. Drought Monitor showed California with no abnormally dry areas anywhere within its boundaries, which is the first time we’ve seen such good news in 25 years. Most reservoirs are above 75% capacity.

“We’re not just managing for today’s conditions — we’re building a system that can handle whatever our changing climate throws at us,” saidGov. Gavin Newsom. “That means capturing rainwater when storms hit, storing it for dry seasons.” We’re of mixed minds with that statement. Yes, the governor detailed a solid water policy — capturing more water in wet years so we have it in dry ones. We liked his phrasing about building a system that is resilient in the face of climate change.

But we’ve generally been disappointed in the administration’s reluctance to prioritize traditional water infrastructure. Many of its priority projects have focused more on environmental projects than water storage. Under the governor’s watch, for instance, the California Coastal Commission even rejected a privately funded desalination plant in Huntington Beach that could have met more than 10% of Orange County’s water needs.

As these editorial pages have often argued, the best time to deal with a drought is when the state isn’t currently suffering from one. That’s because water projects take a long time to build and an even longer time to permit given all the requisite state and federal environmental regulations. Too often, California officials have ignored these projects, preferring instead to blame climate change for water shortages — and then focusing on conservation and rationing when drought inevitably strikes.

But there is some encouraging news. Oddly enough, it came on a bipartisan basis. The Trump administration recently gave approval to build Sites Reservoir north of Sacramento. The Newsom administration supports the $6-billion project, which will provide off-stream storage from the Sacramento River and will minimize environmental effects because it doesn’t dam the river. The San Francisco Chronicle reports construction could begin next year.

Litigation from the usual environmental suspects has failed to stop the plan, which is more good news given the ecological benefits of the plan. Sites would “store water for the future by capturing it during high runoff periods, and then releasing water for various beneficial uses at a later time,” the Northern California Water Association explains. That means more water during dry years for urban users, Central Valley farms and also for habitat protection.

While the Sites greenlight is encouraging, its long delays also are emblematic of California’s failure to upgrade its water infrastructure in a timely manner. As news reports note, the project was proposed 40 years ago. Voters approved a major water bond in 2014 that would in part fund it, but none of the major projects detailed in Proposition 1 have been built (although some small ones have been completed). On nearly every infrastructure issue, water or otherwise, California voters and lawmakers approve spending but then little comes of it.

So we should be happy the entire state is currently drought free, but that should not lull state officials into complacency.