Water Primer 102208

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Legislative Analyst’s Ofce

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October 2008

Contents

Introduction ...........................................................................2Chapter 1: Overview of California’s Water Governance .......4Chapter 2: Water Supply, Source, and Delivery ...................15Chapter 3: Demand and Use of Water ................................32Chapter 4: How Do We Finance Water Projects?.................41Chapter 5: What Drives the Cost of Water? ........................58Chapter 6: Issues for Legislative Consideration ..................64Glossary ...............................................................................73 Acknowledgments

This report was prepared by Catherine B. Freeman, under the supervi-sion o Mark C. Newton. The Legislative Analyst’s Ofce (LAO) is anonpartisan ofce which provides fscal and policy inormation andadvice to the Caliornia Legislature.To request publications call (916) 445-4656.This report and others, as well as an E-mail subscription service, areavailable on the LAO’s Internet site at www.lao.ca.gov. The LAO islocated at 925 L Street, Suite 1000, Sacramento, CA 95814.

Caliornia’s Water: An LAO Primer

2

Introduction

Caliornia’s water delivery system is acing a series ochallenges due in part to a combination o increasingly vari-able weather conditions, legal requirements, and systemoperation and conveyance constraints. These challenges aectwater availability, reliability, and delivery. Recent public andprivate eorts have sought ways to address these challenges.These measures include proposals to increase water throughgroundwater storage, surace storage, inrastructure changes,and system operation improvements, among others.This report provides, through a “quick reerence” docu-ment relying heavily on charts to present inormation, asnapshot o water in Caliornia. The main components o thisreport are:

Overview o Caliornia’s Water Governance.

Chapter 1provides a description o how Caliornia’s water system isgoverned, including the various roles o the ederal, state, andlocal governments, as well as private and public water dis-tricts. This chapter also reviews key moments in history thatchanged water policy, rom the passage o water rights legis-lation to the voter approval o the State Water Project (SWP).

Water Supply, Source, and Delivery.

Chapter 2 providesa picture o where Caliornians get their water, including theactors aecting water delivery, and what inrastructure—“bricks and mortar”—exist to move water throughout thestate. The source o water or Caliornians varies dramaticallyrom region to region based on whether the state has a wet ordry year, as well as due to legal and other system constraints.

Demand and Use o Water.

Chapter 3 highlights waterdemand and use, and the dierences among regions, as wellas residential and agricultural users. While we provide asnapshot o

future

water demand, the picture is highly uncer-tain and depends on actors ranging rom weather to court

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