California governor offers new water plan amid climate change
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California Governor Gavin Newsom calls for a new strategy to curb California drought and climate change.
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Lake Oroville where water levels remained low due to continuing drought conditions in California on Aug. 22, 2021 (AP /Ethan Swope)
California's state governor Gavin Newsom said on Thursday that the state must harvest, recycle and desalinate much more water, after more than two decades of a devastating drought that was worsened by climate change.
Newsom revealed an "aggressive" new strategy to fight a dwindling water supply and said he wants to bolster the aging infrastructure to keep up with the rapidly changing environment.
"Climate change means drought won't just stick around for two years at a time like it historically has," he said in a statement, adding, that drought is a "permanent fixture here in the American West and California will adapt to this new reality."
The blueprint revealed calls for more above-ground storage, better capture the billions of rain gallons that usually just run into the ocean, and create plans to desalinate seawater and recycle much more water.
The US West has been more than two decades into its worst drought.
Consequently, residents in southern California have been advised not to water their lawns more than twice a week, which caused much grumbling among some wealthy homeowners.
Read: Dixie Fire Becoming Largest in California History
Scientists expect California's water supplies to diminish an additional 10% over the coming decades, with the current drought to be part of the long-term aridification of the region.
Global warming is hastening that process, where humanity's unchecked burning of fossil fuels continues to pump insulating gases like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
The planet has already become warmer by an average of 1.2 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times, and it is expected to get even hotter, regardless of whether or not governments will meet their pollution reduction targets.
Higher temperatures aggravate the effects of the drought and cause more moisture to evaporate from the soil, leaving less to flow into streams and rivers.
"Regardless of drought or flood, in this changed climate there will be less water available for people to use," California's 16-page plan says.
"To match the pace of climate change, California must move smarter and faster to update our water systems. The modernization of our water systems will help replenish the water California will lose due to hotter, drier weather."
