(Sacramento) – In this Democratic weekly radio address Assemblymember Jared Huffman explains how California can address much of its current and future water demand through better use of existing water supplies.  In the radio address Assemblyman Huffman, the Chair of the Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials, says “Last century, we relied primarily on building dams, reservoirs, pumps and canals. Today, we have many more water management tools than our predecessors – including options far less expensive and more environmentally beneficial.”  A transcript of the entire address follows and a link to the audio of the radio address is below.  This radio address runs 3:15.

Hello, I’m Assemblymember Jared Huffman, Chair of the Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety & Toxic Materials.

There’s no question California faces serious water challenges.  With a growing population, global warming shrinking the Sierra snow pack, and our ecosystems strained, we need to plan ahead, while also taking immediate actions to ensure a reliable water supply for our people, farms and environment.

But the solutions that worked a hundred years ago may not make the most sense for meeting today’s challenges.

Last century, we relied primarily on building dams, reservoirs, pumps and canals.  We built the world’s most elaborate water system with over a thousand major dams, but in the process, we also created major water quality and environmental problems.   

Today, we have many more water management tools than our predecessors – including options far less expensive and more environmentally beneficial.  

The most obvious of these is to better use existing water supplies. Thanks to investments in conservation and recycling, California's water demand has remained relatively flat despite the tremendous population increase of the past few decades. With continued investments in water use efficiency and water recycling, this trend can continue.

Similarly, we can clean up and better protect water supplies that have been placed in jeopardy by contamination. Many California groundwater basins and rivers are impaired by pesticides, industrial effluent and other pollutants. Cleaning up these water supplies is a proven, cost-effective strategy.

Another obvious solution is better use of groundwater storage. In the 20th century, we depleted our groundwater aquifers. These depleted aquifers offer a major part of the solution to our current water supply problems:  they provide ready-made storage facilities capable of significantly increasing our water-storage capacity at a much lower cost than building new dams. This cost-effective and environmentally friendly strategy is already working. Since 1990, 1 million acre-feet of groundwater storage has been developed and there is tremendous additional potential.

While these promising strategies are playing an increasingly vital role in meeting our state’s water needs, some argue that building one or two new dams should be California's top priority.

The problem is, the most viable large dam locations in California were taken decades ago.  We built over a thousand major dams during the last century.  Virtually every major river, stream, and arroyo has already been dammed – in some cases, many times.

So trying to find a viable large dam project in California today is like shopping at Macy’s the day after the Labor Day sale:  all of the good stuff is gone and what’s left doesn’t fit; plus the prices have gone way up.

California water officials are conducting studies to assess the feasibility, costs, and environmental impacts of these proposed new dam projects.

Let’s complete those studies.   

But in the meantime, let's not wait to move forward on proven and cost-effective solutions that can produce significant supplies of clean, reliable and affordable water for decades to come.

We may not have all the water we would like. We certainly don't have all the money. Let's be smart and make the best use of both.

I’m Assemblymember Jared Huffman.  Thanks for listening.

Here is a link to the audio:

http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/Newsline/Audio/20070330RadioAddressEnglishWaterHuffman.mp3

For more information on the latest news from the Assembly Democratic Caucus, please call Don Andrews
at the Speaker’s Office of Member Services at (916) 319-3800